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In JHemottam. 



TRIBUTES TO THE MEMORY 

OF THE 

REV. C^P.^ADSDEN, 

LATE RECTOR OF ST. LUKE'S CHURCH, CHARLESTON, S. C. 



MOSTLY DELIVERED SHORTLY AFTER HIS DECEASE ; TO WHICH ARE ADDED , 
AT THE REQUEST OF MANY OF HIS FRIENDS, 



THIRTEEN OF HIS SERMONS, 



COMPILED BY 

KEV. JAMES H^LLIOTT. 

n 



CHARLESTON, S. C: 
FOGARTIE'S BOOK DEPOSITORY, 

260 Kino Street, 
1872. 



3W^ 

&*>* 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by 

S. AND B. M. FOGARTIE, 

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



i q {, rz 



RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE : 
PRINTED BY H. 0. EOUGETON AND COMPANY, 












PEEFATOET NOTE. 



TN this Memorial to a beloved friend, I have 
contented myself with simply arranging the 
material placed in my hands. Some of these 
contributions have reached me within a few days, 
and this, together with the incessant interruptions 
of a city congregation, will, I hope, excuse the 
delay of publication. The leading motive of this 
compilation is, not to exalt one who, with un- 
feigned modesty, shrank from all praise, nor to 
gratify the partialities of a large circle of ad- 
mirers and friends ; nor even to soothe the sor- 
rows of his bereaved and stricken family, but to 
magnify that grace of God, which shone so 
brightly and constantly in him. Tributes from 
so many and various quarters, prove how near 
he stood to the heart of the Universal Church ; 
how sweetly and purely he represented the es- 
sence of all true religion. Men of widely differ- 
ent views saw in him the lineaments of the 
Master, and glorified Christ in him. They are 
republished just as they have come to me ; and 



iv PREFATORY NOTE. 

are arranged in the order which commended it- 
self to my mind as the most natural. Each wri- 
ter speaks, of course, from his own point of view ; 
and this variety should be regarded as giving 
additional and cumulative value to their com- 
bined testimony. Nor is this consentient voice 
an unimportant witness to the real unity of the 
Church of Christ, in the midst of all its superficial 
and noisy differences ; and, perhaps (I speak it 
with diffidence), it is while contemplating a life 
like that of Gadsden's that we are nearest the so- 
lution of that great problem, which is pressing 
upon the hearts of Christ's true people ; namely, 
how they who are one in faith, one in allegiance 
to a common Lord, one in baptism, so far as its 
essentials are concerned, may be brought into a 
closer unity of affection, of fraternal acknowledg- 
ment, and finally, perhaps, of external organiza- 
tion. Gadsden seems in a great measure, to 
have solved that problem for himself; and that 
without violating the order and discipline of that 
branch of the Christian Church to which he be- 
longed. Where he saw Christ, he loved and ac- 
knowledged Him ; and they who are Christ's, 
clasp hands, and mingle tears above his grave. 

J. H. E. 



COXTEXTS. 



I. Tributes from Brethren of his own Denom- 

ination, 

Sketch from the "Monthly Record" . . . 1 
Funeral Sermon preached by Rev. TV. B. TV. 

Howe, Assistant Bishop Elect ... 30 

Extract from Sermon by Rev. A. T. Porter . 65 
Memorial Tribute in the General Convention . 68 

II. Tributes from Brethren of other Denom- 

inations. 

Remarks of Rev. E. T. TVinkler, D. D., of Cita- 
del Square Church (Baptist) ... 81 

Remarks of Rev. VT. H. Adams, Circular Church 

(Congregational) 84 

Remarks of Rev. Charles S. Tedder, Huguenot 

Church 93 

Remarks of Rev. J. T. TTightman, Methodist 

Episcopal Church 95 

IH. Funeral Ceremonies, Etc. 

Sketch of Funeral Ceremonies attending the Bur- 
ial of Mr. Gadsden 99 

Resolutions passed by Yestry of St. Luke's 

Church ....... 104 

Lines on the Death of the Rev. C. P. Gadsden . 107 

IY. Sermons of Rev. C. P. Gadsden. 

The Holy Spirit the Guide to the Understanding 

of the Scriptures Ill 

Christ receiveth Sinners 132 

The Ground of the Believer's Acceptance . 146 



VI CONTENTS. 

A Brand plucked out of the Fire .... 160 
The Carnal Mind Enmity against God . . 174 
The Altar to the Unknown God . . . .190 
Forsaking All to follow Christ .... 205 
Aaron standing between the Dead and the Liv- 
ing 220 

Jesus in the Midst of those gathered in his Xame 235 

A Communion Sermon 253 

The One Man who cannot be convicted of Sin . 269 
The Godhead of Christ the Only Key to his 

Character 285 

Christ coming to Judgment .... 308 



%n jftemoriam 

EEY. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN, 



i. 



TRIBUTES FROM BRETHREN OF HIS OWN 
CHURCH. 

Sketch from u Monthly Record," dated August, 1871. 

npHE drapery of mourning in which. " The 
-*- Record " goes forth to the Diocese, poorly 
represents our feelings under the bereave- 
ment that has befallen our Church and 
community. Nor can words do more than 
faintly express the profound sorrow and 
sense of irreparable loss, with which we 
contemplate the breach made in our min- 
isterial ranks. A prince has fallen in 
Israel. A leader, whose arm and voice 
were ever foremost in the great battle for 
Christ and truth, has been stricken down in 
the midst of the conflict, and we sadly ask, 
Who can take his place, or be to us in the 
future what he has been in the past ? 



.2 IN MEMORIAM. 

None but those who have watched and 
toiled by his side can understand how 
deeply and extensively the life of our dear 
departed brother has been interwoven with 
the history of the Church in this Diocese 
and city. He was wrought into it at so 
many points, that the wrench of his death 
pulls at fibres which have found their way 
into a multitude of hearts. His congrega- 
tion mourn the loss of a devoted, sympa- 
thizing pastor, who truly bore them on his 
heart, and who to the full extent, and 
beyond the full extent of his strength, was 
ever laboring for the promotion of their 
spiritual welfare ; in private and in public, 
in the pulpit and in the Sunday-school, in 
the chamber of sickness and of affliction, in 
the social circle making full proof of his 
ministry, and ever holding up before them 
the one great attraction of the Saviour 
.dying for their sins, and living for their 
complete redemption from corruption and 
death. His brethren deplore the absence 
of a genial, bright, and active spirit, whose 
zeal often quickened theirs to fresh exer- 
tion; who was ever willing to share their 
burdens ; who brought into their counsels 
so buoyant and hopeful a temper ; whose 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 3 

judgment was as clear as his knowledge 
was accurate and extensive ; who was gifted 
with so delicate a perception of his own and 
others rights ; who was the very imperson- 
ation of candor, modesty, and truth. Every 
interest of the Church will miss his ready 
and faithful cooperation, which shrank 
from no duty, and shirked no responsibil- 
ity. The community at large suffer the 
privation of one who was prompt to re- 
spond to every call, come from whatever 
quarter it might ; whose face was seen on 
the platform, wherever good might be 
achieved, and religious influence brought 
to bear upon civil and educational inter- 
ests. The councils of the General Church 
will miss his wise moderation and delight- 
ful suavity of speech and manner, by which 
so many were impressed at the last Con- 
vention, and of which we heard at the dis- 
tant North from those who had previously 
been unacquainted with him. Of his family 
we say only, that they to whom he was best 
known can alone feel the poignancy of a 
blow which has extinguished the light of 
their home, and left them no earthly com- 
fort but the precious memory of his endear- 
ing qualities, and the deep sense of the 



4 IN MEM OR I AM. 

privilege accorded them of intimate com- 
munion with a soul which habitually lived 
in intimate communion with God. 

The leading events of Mr. Gadsden's life 
have been already given to the public, but 
it will be necessary to recapitulate them 
more at length. He was born on the 5th 
of August, 1825, and thus had nearly com- 
pleted his forty-sixth year. His father, Mr. 
John Gadsden, was a younger brother of 
Bishop Gadsden, and a man of considerable 
legal ability and literary culture, which ill 
health and a comparatively early death dis- 
appointed of their maturer fruits. His 
mother died also while he was yet a child, 
and he was left under the charge of his ma- 
ternal aunt, Mrs. Barksdale, a lady of decided 
piety and excellent sense, to whose consci- 
entious training and admirable example he 
always acknowledged himself deeply in- 
debted. His religious impressions were of 
a gradual and gentle growth. His piety, 
like that of Timothy, must have dated from 
his childhood, steadily gaining strength and 
consciousness with his increasing years. He 
seems, through the preventing grace of God, 
to have escaped in great measure the irreg- 
ularities and vices which too often deform 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 5 

the period of youth, impairing the moral 
sensibilities, leaving as their bitter memen- 
tos the stains and scars of sin, and laying 
the foundation of habits to be subdued, if 
at all, only after long and painful struggles. 
It was in harmony with this comparatively 
blameless development of his Christian char- 
acter that he could not refer in after life to 
any one remarkable stage of religious ex- 
perience, although, doubtless, there were 
periods of deeper conviction when the press- 
ure of divine truth made itself more con- 
sciously felt, and brought his heart and will 
more entirely into subjection to the obedi- 
ence of faith. The most decisive of these 
impressions occurred in his sophomore year 
at Columbia, S. C, while sitting under the 
powerful ministry of Dr. Thornwell, and 
led to the complete surrender of his heart 
to God, and public profession of the gospel 
of Christ. The testimony of those who 
knew him in college bears ample witness 
to his fidelity to his confirmation vows. 
His companions also testify to his unusual 
excellence as a speaker and debater. 

Dr. Thornwell recognized in him the 
promise of a bright and useful career, and 
he responded with a cordial appreciation of 



6 IN MEMORIAM. 

the genius and piety of his distinguished 
instructor, which ripened into a life-long 
friendship. His own theological views were 
probably considerably influenced by the 
powerful presentation of that scheme of 
doctrinal truth of which Dr. Thornwell 
was so eloquent and uncompromising an 
expounder; and while this daily contact 
with one of the brightest luminaries of the 
Presbyterian Church did not weaken in the 
least his attachment for the forms, and gov- 
ernment of his own, it doubtless contributed 
to establish him in those views of theology 
which remained with him to the end of life, 
and which he always held to be most con- 
sonant with the creed of the Reformers, 
and with the acknowledged standards of 
the Church of England and our own. 

These views, however, were not in his 
case the mere formulae of a dry and sapless 
creed, but were the channels through which 
divine grace flowed, to bloom in abundant 
foliage and flower and fruit. His was em- 
phatically a living faith, borrowing earnest- 
ness and solemnity and depth from his 
profound sense of natural depravity, of 
God's sovereignty, and of the fullness and 
sufficiency of the Saviour's work. Christ 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 7 

became to him his all in all ; and when he 
devoted himself to the ministry of the gos- 
pel, he did so with the solemn purpose of 
holding Him up in his life and death, and 
resurrection power, as the great object of 
men's reliance, and the sole means of their 
conversion and sanctification. After the 
usual course of study under the direct su- 
pervision of his uncle, the then Bishop of 
the Diocese, he was ordained Deacon at St. 
Philip's, on the 4th Sunday in Advent, 1844, 
and was immediately engaged as an assist- 
ant to the Kev. William Dehon, then in 
charge of the extensive parish of St. John's. 
We must not "pass over this period of his 
life without adverting to the important in- 
fluence which it was calculated to exert 
upon Mr, Gadsden's opinions in reference 
to Church questions. The system of doc- 
trine he had embraced naturally led him to 
what is known as the Low Church theory, 
according to which, the claims of any visible 
ecclesiastical organization to be the true 
representative of the Apostolic Church 
rests rather upon its accordance with the 
doctrine and spirit of the Apostles, as ex- 
hibited in the New Testament, than upon a 
direct lineal succession of orders in the three 



8 IN MEMORIAM. 

branches of the holy ministry. We cannot 
stop to enter into controversy which, in this 
connection, were entirely unsuitable ; but we 
notice the way in which Mr. Gadsden's posi- 
tion at this time tended to the completion 
of his theological education upon thorough 
and comprehensive grounds. His uncle, the 
Bishop, whom he personally loved, and 
whose character he always held in the 
highest esteem for its consistent and prac- 
tical piety, differed from him very materi- 
ally in his estimate of the claims of the 
Church and Liturgy ; and he was not likely 
to maintain his own position without a keen 
and searching investigation of the ground 
on which he stood. To this we attribute 
his unusual acquaintance with the contro- 
versial literature which bears upon the Con- 
stitution of the Church, the scope of her 
offices, the history of the Prayer Book, and 
the interpretation of the Rubrics. On these 
points he was peculiarly at home, and abun- 
dantly able to maintain himself against all 
comers. But his temper was too good, and 
his spirit too Catholic, to allow controversy 
to degenerate into strife ; and hence to the 
last the Bishop and himself remained upon 
the most affectionate and confidential terms, 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 9 

which is saying a great deal when we re- 
member that both were men of quick tem- 
per, and uncompromisingly tenacious in the 
maintenance of their opinions. 

Mr. Gadsden's ministry in St. John's was 
eminently useful, and we are inclined to 
consider it one of the happiest periods of 
his life. He was always fond of the coun- 
try, and although there is nothing peculiarly 
attractive or varied in the scenery of our 
pine lands, the very rustling of the trees 
and the fresh air of the forest had charms 
for him which more than reconciled him to 
the monotony of the view, bounded by in- 
terminable lines of inflexible regularity, and 
canopied by the sombre foliage of the pine. 
Here he married his first wife, the eldest 
daughter of Mr. Thomas W. Porcher, and 
in his hospitable dwelling found a congenial 
home, and formed ties which have lasted in 
undiminished tenderness to the end. Dur- 
ing his first prolonged illness in 1870, Mr. 
Porcher was his untiring nurse ; and one of 
his latest anxieties in his final sickness was 
to see him before he died, and while con- 
sciousness was still left to him. In both 
these respects he was happily gratified. 

It was in St. John's that Mr. Gadsden 



10 IN MEMOR1AM. 

had his first experience in ministering to 
the negroes, who formed a large proportion 
of the charge of these devoted ministers of 
Christ. From the first he showed his apti- 
tude in interesting and instructing them, for 
which, indeed, his natural gifts eminently 
qualified him. His great fluency in extem- 
pore address, animated manner, and fertility 
of illustration, attracted and held their atten- 
tion ; while the f ervor with which he dwelt 
upon the love of Christ, and the solemnity 
of his appeals to conscience and their own 
experience, were the unfailing means of ac- 
cess to their hearts and sympathies. He 
very soon became the object of their affec- 
tions, and his influence with this class of 
our population survived the shock of the 
war, and maintained itself against the po- 
litical jealousies engendered by their en- 
franchisement. The galleries of his church 
were frequented by the colored people after 
they had deserted those of almost every 
other Episcopal Church in the city ; and his 
communion seasons found him ministering 
as usual to numbers who could not be in- 
duced to leave their pastor and tried friend 
by any appeal to prejudices of color and 
caste. Among those who flocked to his fu- 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 11 

neral they were largely represented, and 
we feel assured there were no sincerer 
mourners at the side of his grave. Last 
year, when his death was daily expected, 
one of their prominent leaders observed 
that the night before two thousand of the 
freedmen of Charleston were praying for 
his continuance amongst us ; and we see no 
reason to suppose that the statement was at 
all an exaggerated one. 

It was this same happy power of adapt- 
ing himself to their capacities, added to 
the affectionate interest which he always 
manifested in them, that rendered our dear 
brother so universal a favorite among the 
young. Much of his Sunday's labor was 
devoted to their instruction, and in this de- 
partment of his ministerial work he ever 
took especial delight. It was his custom, 
we are told, not only to be present with the 
school in the morning, but to gather the 
children around him for half an hour before 
the afternoon service, and to lecture to them 
in his happy and impressive way. He had 
been thus engaged lately, expounding to 
them the Apostles' Creed, clause by clause. 
The day before he was taken sick, he had 
reached the words " life everlasting." Hav- 



12 IN ME MORI AM. 

ing addressed them upon the former of these 
pregnant terms, he told them, that upon the 
coming Sunday he would conclude the whole 
series by explaining what was to be under- 
stood by " everlasting" When the ap- 
pointed hour came, he was himself upon 
the very eye of entering upon the full bless- 
edness of that life, and of knowing, as man 
on earth cannot know, the mysteries of the 
eternal and far more exceeding weight of 
glory, which was awaiting him before the 
throne of God his Saviour. 

But to return : In 1852, upon the death 
of his uncle, then the Rector of St. Philip's 
Church, in Charleston, the Rev. John B. 
Campbell, the former assistant, was called to 
the Rectorship of the parish, and Mr. Gads- 
den was invited to fill the vacant place. Here 
he spent nearly six years, laboriously and 
faithfully discharging the duties of a city 
minister, remaining at his post during the 
epidemics of 1854 and 1856, and exposing 
himself with unflinching fortitude to the 
perils of the season. During these years, 
he was preaching to a congregation, many 
of whom could hardly be said to sympathize 
with him in either his doctrinal or church 
views ; but such was the geniality of his dis- 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 13 

position, the uniform courteousness of his 
demeanor, and the evident sincerity and 
frankness of his convictions, that when he 
left them, those who differed from him most 
widely were delighted to retain him as a 
friend. During this engagement he had 
other inviting calls to churches at the North, 
and in his own native city, — how many we 
know not, for he was very reticent on these 
subjects ; but he declined them all, believing 
that for the time his path had been decided 
by the providence of God, and willing to 
retain a subordinate place, when he might 
have been at the head of large and flourish- 
ing congregations. 

He was also engaged during this period 
in editorial work, in which he took great in- 
terest, being one of three who conducted the 
" Southern Episcopalian," a monthly mag- 
azine devoted to the cause of religion and 
of the Church in this Diocese. Many of its 
most popular articles were from his pen ; and 
after the death of the Rev. J. A. Shanklin, 
he continued to conduct it with his surviv- 
ing co-laborer until the war put a close to its 
existence. Many happy hours, the remem- 
brance of which is deeply cherished by the 
last of this little band, were spent in consul- 



14 IN MEMORIAM. 

tation and prayer for the success of their 
labors in a field which called for continual 
circumspection and prudent forbearance. 

In the year 1857, some difficulties occurred 
in St. Philip's Church, between the Rev. Mr. 
Campbell and his Vestry, into which it is 
needless now to enter ; and Mr. Gadsden, 
from motives of delicacy, which at the time 
we considered almost overstrained, concluded 
to tender his resignation, and enter upon 
another field opened to him by the provi- 
dence of God in the northeastern section of 
the city. This step he took after much 
prayer, and to the great regret of the con- 
gregation of St. Philip's. He was now about 
to enter upon the arduous work of creating 
and building up a new parish, a far more 
difficult task in our stationary and conserva- 
tive population than among the ever flue-' 
tuating and swelling masses of the North. 
In pursuance of this design, a plain wooden 
structure, now known as St. Mark's Church, 
was erected upon Elizabeth Street, and here 
for several years he labored with much suc- 
cess in gathering a congregation around him 
and preparing the ground for a larger and 
more suitable edifice. In due time the cor- 
ner-stone of the present St. Luke's was laid, 



REV CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 15 

and into the details of its construction Mr. 
Gadsden threw himself with all his wonted 
ardor, watching it as it approached comple- 
tion with the affection of a parent for his 
child. The cost of lot and building was 
large, and left the congregation burdened 
with a considerable debt. Had things re- 
mained as they were at the inception of the 
enterprise, no serious difficulty would have 
been experienced in paying off these incum- 
brances ; but the breaking out of the war 
threw everything into confusion, dispersed 
the congregation, and, finally, swept away 
their means ; and when after the surrender 
of Charleston they slowly gathered back to 
their homes, the embarrassment was such as 
to make it a serious question whether it 
would be possible to save their bonds from 
foreclosure, and the church from falling into 
the auctioneer's hands. Nothing but Mr. 
Gadsden's influence, and his deep hold upon 
the affections of his people, prevented this 
misfortune. At one crisis he pledged the bulk 
of his remaining property for the redemption 
of the debt, and actually sold a considerable 
portion of it to raise the means to meet the 
first installment. This generous act was but 
of a piece with his uniform disregard of his 



16 IN MEMORIAM. 

own interest, when what he conceived to be 
the honor of Christ and of his Church was in 
the balance. At a subsequent period he de- 
clined inviting prospects of usefulness else- 
where, upon the understanding that his peo- 
ple would take immediate steps to extricate 
St. Luke's from its involved and dangerous 
position. Arrangements to this effect were 
almost consummated, when the summons 
came to him to leave his earthly cares and 
enter into his rest. Let us hope that his ef- 
forts, prayers, and sacrifices will not have 
been in vain, and that they who loved him 
so in life will not suffer his work to be scat- 
tered, and that St. Luke's will be preserved 
to the Diocese and city, as the most suita- 
ble monument which can survive to tell of 
the priceless devotion of their beloved pas- 
tor. 

Mr. Gadsden's patriotism was one of the 
natural sentiments to which he gave full 
sway. Not that it ever hurried him beyond 
the bounds prescribed by the highest relig- 
ious principle. He never, in the ardor of 
his political convictions, forgot that he was 
a minister of Christ, or that he belonged to 
a kingdom which was not of this world. No 
personal bitterness was mingled with the 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 17 

sense of a great wrong inflicted upon the 
South, upon his beloved State, and upon 
the city of his birth. An ardent admirer 
and disciple of the great Calhoun, an admi- 
rable portrait of whom, inherited, we be- 
lieve, from his father, hung in his drawing- 
room, he accepted his interpretation of the 
Constitution, and of the relations of the sev- 
eral States in sovereign parties to the fede- 
ral compact. Hence, when war came, he 
regarded it as the only means left the South 
of vindicating these great principles, and 
was willing that his fortune, and if need be 
his life, should be hazarded in the struggle 
for their maintenance. He never degene- 
rated into what is called a political preacher, 
but he encouraged his people under their 
reverses, ministered freely of his substance 
and time and personal strength in supply- 
ing the destitute, comforting the bereaved, 
and tending the pallets of our wounded and 
dying soldiers ; and when his congregation 
had been scattered, and it was no longer 
possible to open St. Luke's for service, he 
employed himself in preaching and minis- 
tering to the confederate forces stationed 
around the city. When defeat came, he re- 
ceived it as the will of God, and without 

2 



18 IN MEM OR I AM. 

questioning the Supreme decree, although 
it shattered the human aspirations of his 
whole life, resumed the duties of a parish 
minister with undiminished zeal and pa- 
tience. Henceforth he looked only towards 
the city which hath foundations, whose 
builder and maker is God. Life became to 
him yet more a pilgrimage, the world yet 
more a wilderness, heaven yet more a home. 
His whole nature concentrated itself with 
redoubled interest upon his work, and his 
spirit plumed itself afresh for higher flight 
towards the founts of glory. 

In addition to the burdens laid upon him 
by the misfortunes of the war. Mr. Gads- 
den had griefs of a more private nature. In 
1858 he buried a boy in whom were garnered 
many hopes ; and during the war, in 1864, 
within a month of each other, he was called 
to surrender his onlv daughter and his 
beloved wife. These successive strokes, to 
which his affectionate temper made him 
keenly susceptible, he bore with a beautiful 
resignation : committing them one after 
another to the arms of his Saviour, with 
an unfaltering trust in his faithfulness and 
love, and rejoicing in the decisive proofs 
which were vouchsafed him of their interest 
in the covenant of salvation. 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 19 

When time had healed these wounds, he 
entered once more into the wedded estate, 
and in the partner who has lived to survive 
him found a tender helpmeet and a wise 
counselor, who could enter into all his views, 
and was ever ready to share and lighten his 
burdens. May the God of all comfort sup- 
port and strengthen her in this great sorrow, 
teaching her by actual experience that his 
grace is sufficient for her, and that there is 
no tear, come from how deep a fount it may, 
that his hand is not loving enough to wipe 
away. 

As may be supposed, Mr. Gadsden was a 
hard and indefatigable worker. His consti- 
tution seemed a good one, and his animal 
spirits were remarkably buoyant and elastic. 
These remained with him to the last, and 
undoubtedly contributed mainly to enable 
him to bear up against the continual strain 
to which his mind and body were subjected. 
But they also helped, perhaps, to blind him 
to the danger to which he was exposed, of 
falling a sacrifice to his zeal. At length, in 
the spring of 1870, his overtaxed powers 
gave way, and he was laid upon a bed of 
sickness, from which it was feared he would 
never arise. The best medical skill of the 



20 IN MEMORIAL. 

city pronounced his case hopeless, and one 
of his brethren in the ministry was commis- 
sioned to tell him that his end was approach- 
ing. But Mr. Gadsden, although he re- 
ceived the intimation with entire calmness, 
expressed his opinion to the contrary. He 
did not doubt their superior skill and knowl- 
edge of his case, but simply said that he 
felt no consciousness that death was at hand, 
and that it was his belief that God would 
raise him, up and permit him once more to 
carry the message of salyation to dying men. 
And, strange to say, spite of all the prog- 
nostications of physicians and friends, after 
hoyering for weeks between life and death, 
he was, like Hezekiah, respited, and after a 
few months spent at the North, returned in 
the fall astonishingly restored to an appear- 
ance at least of his former health. But it 
was, as subsequent eyents haye proyed, in 
appearance only. He looked too well for 
one whose yital powers had been so recently 
and utterly prostrated, and one of whose 
capital organs, the usual ce'ntre of functional 
derangement in our climate, had been pro- 
nounced to be " utterly worn out." But of 
this critical condition of his system he seemed 
unconscious, and plunged once more into all 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 21 

his parochial duties with undiminished activ- 
ity. So things went on through the spring 
of this year. At the earnest solicitation of 
his Vestry, he consented for a time to forego 
his afternoon discourses, but even these he 
resumed about two months before his death. 
Summer came on, and an unusually hot July 
found him at his post, in the full exercise of 
all his powers, preaching, lecturing, visiting 
as usual. But the hour had come. On 
Sunday, the 16th of July, he complained of 
unusual weariness, and spent upon his couch 
the hours not actually engaged in the ser- 
vices of the sanctuary. On Monday morn- 
ing he expressed himself as being unusually 
well — went out, but returned about midday, 
with symptoms of a dangerous character. 
A distressing nausea now set in, and his 
physicians again began to feel the most 
serious apprehensions as to his condition. 
The alarm spread, and anxious friends 
thronged around his bedside, to watch the 
progress of the case. This time he seemed 
to have the sentence of death within him- 
self. To one brother he said, " I feel that 
my work is done ; " to another, " I am like 
a watch whose mainspring is broken ; " again, 
" I seem like one waiting at the ferry while 



22 IN MEM OR I AM. 

the boat is approaching." Willing to re- 
main, he was still more willing to go ; and 
as his disease assumed more evidently fatal 
proportions, his hope and assurance rose with 
it, and putting from him all thought of life, he 
addressed himself with marvelous calmness 
to the discharge of such work as was left to 
his failing strength. Messages of love were 
sent to his congregation, to his Sunday- 
school, to his brethren in the ministry, and 
to his aged Bishop, between whom and him- 
self there had always existed a most tender 
and confidential affection. There were other 
confidences and beautiful manifestations of 
Christian spirit, over which, as too sacred, 
we drop a veil. Love to all seemed now the 
overpowering sentiment of his soul, even 
faith and hope becoming dim in comparison. 
In that supreme moment, like his beloved 
Master, he thought of others rather than 
himself. He was raised so entirely above 
doubt and fear, that all his anxieties were 
for them whom he was leaving behind. Of 
his former sickness he expressed the thought 
that he had been raised up to give to his 
people a final testimony, as from the grave, 
to the sufficiency and power of the truths 
which he had preached to them. Of him- 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 23 

self lie said, that during this sickness his 
views of sin and Christ were such as he had 
never known before. On Sunday, the 23d, 
he received the Communion from the hands 
of the Rev. Mr. Howe, recently elected 
Assistant Bishop of the Diocese ; and on 
Monday, at about a quarter past four in the 
afternoon, he breathed his last. About 
twenty minutes before his death, he was 
lifted from his bed into a therapeutic chair, ' 
and raising his arms, or alluding to the fact 
of their being raised by his attendants into 
a position suggestive of such a thought, he 
murmured, " I am reaching toward my in- 
heritance." Shortly after, without a strug- 
gle, he fell asleep in Jesus. 

It will not do to forget, though we fear 
we have omitted many interesting particu- 
lars which, as evidences of divine grace, we 
would not willingly let die, how upon a pre- 
vious day he called an old friend and rela- 
tive, Mr. James Holmes, to him, and men- 
tioned that there was a verse written in his 
Bible, which he wished him to refer to as 
exactly expressive of his feelings in view of 
death. The history of these lines was re- 
markable, and they seemed to have made a 
deep impression upon him. The words are 
these : — 



24 IN- MEMORIAM. 

"In peace let me resign my breath, 

And thy salvation see ; 

My sins deserve eternal death, 

But Jesus diedjfor me." 

We hope, when his epitaph is written, 
they will be inscribed upon his tomb. 1 

I The history of these simple and affecting lines is given 
in the admirable memoir of Dr. Marsh, written by his 
daughter, the well known author of the " Life of Captain 
Hedley Vicars." It is well worth reproducing here. During 
a visit to Lord Roden, at Tollymore Park, Ireland, "Dr. 
Marsh told the story of the blessed change which took place 
in the views of his old school -master, Dr. Valpy, repeating a 
verse he had written as his confession of faith, not long be- 
fore his death. Lord Roden requested my father to write 
out the lines for him, and then fastened the paper over the 
mantel-piece in his study. It hangs there still, yellow with 
age, its firm and legible characters bringing to memory with 
almost painful vividness the beloved one who traced them. 

" Some time after Lord Roden had adopted this verse for 
the motto of his study, one of the old heroes of Waterloo, 
General Taylor, came to visit him at Tollymore. He had 
not, at that time, thought much on the subject of religion, 
and preferred to avoid all discussion of it. But whenever he 
came into the study, to talk with his friend alone, Lord 
Roden remarked that the eyes of the old soldier invariably 
rested for a few moments upon the motto over the mantel- 
piece. At length he broke the ice by saying, ' Why, Gen- 
eral, you will soon know that verse by heart.' ' I know it 
now by heart,' replied the General, with emphasis and feel- 
ing. 

" l From the hour of that visit, a change came over his spirit 
and life. No one who was intimately acquainted with him 
could doubt its reality. During the following two years 
he corresponded regularly with Lord Roden about the things 
which concerned his peace, always concluding his letters by 
quoting the favorite motto. 

II i At the end of that time, the physician who had attended 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 25 

The funeral of our brother took place on 
Tuesday afternoon, the 25th, at five o'clock. 
It was the occasion of such a demonstra- 
tion as has been seldom witnessed in our 
city. There was no pageantry ; the services 
were of the simplest character ; but the com- 
munity seemed moved to its heart, and with- 
out respect to color or sect, gathered to 
testify its admiration and love for one who 
himself embraced all in his overflowing 
affection. Ministers of all denominations 
stood around the chancel, and followed the 
body to its final resting place, almost a mile 
away. Five of his brethren divided the 
burial service among them, and at the grave 

General Taylor wrote to Lord Roden to say that his friend 
had departed in peace ; and that the last words which fell 
from his lips were those which he had learned to love in 
life-time. 

" ' It happened in after years that Lord Roden told this story 
at the house of a near neighbor. A young relative of the 
family, an officer in the army, who had recently returned 
from the Crimea, heard it, but turned carelessly away. Some 
months later Lord Roden received the intelligence that his 
young acquaintance was in a rapid decline, and was desirous 
of seeing him without delay.' 

" As he entered the sick-room the dying man stretched out 
both hands to welcome him ; at the same moment repeating 
these simple lines: ' They have been God's message,' he 
said, ' of peace and comfort to my heart in this illness, when 
brought to my memory, after days of darkness and distress, 
by the Holy Ghost the Comforter.' " 



26 IN MEMORIAM. 

the assembled throng sang two of his favor- 
ite hymns, " Rock of Ages," and " There is 
a land of pure delight ; " and the earth 
closed, until the resurrection morn, upon 
the mortal remains of one of the most love- 
able and delightful of Christ's witnesses 
upon earth. 

And he was truly, in life and death, 
Christ's witness. This was the distinguish- 
ing feature of his whole ministry. From 
first to last Christ was the burden of his 
preaching. Like the Apostle, he seemed to 
know nothing but Christ and Him crucified. 
What men might think of this devotion to 
a single subject, he cared not. In compari- 
son with the gospel of salvation, he knew 
of nothing which could claim an instant's 
regard. He loved beauty. No one found 
more delight than he in exploring the treas- 
ures of European art, when some years 
ago he was obliged to visit England and the 
Continent for health. No one gazed with 
more rapture upon the evidences of divine 
goodness and creative skill, as displayed in 
the coloring of the heavens, the changeful 
play of ocean, the rich sweep of the varied 
landscape, the silent majesty of the snow- 
crowned mountains : with what enthusiasm 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEX. 27 

we have heard hini descant upon each and 
all ! Nor was he in any degree insensible 
to the charms of literature, and especially 
of poetry — nor unwilling to lay them all 
under contribution when they could be used 
to illustrate the subject in which his soul 
found chief delight. But that subject was 
Christ, nor could anything divert him from 
it, nor was anything allowed for an instant 
to obscure it. This singleness of view may 
have offended the taste of some, but to him 
who had his eye constantly fixed upon the 
Sun of Righteousness as the grand luminary 
of the spiritual and moral world, such devo- 
tion was perfectly natural. At all events, 
we can safely leave it to our brother's dying 
bed, and to the scene around his grave, to 
plead the wisdom of his choice. None who 
witnessed them but would say, " Let me 
die the death of the righteous, and let my 
last end be like his." 

We have said little of our brother's 
preaching, and only incidentally touched 
upon his intellectual endowments. As the 
basis of all, he had a quick and clear appre- 
hension, a retentive and ready memory. He 
seized rapidly the material points of the 
subject before him, whether read or dis- 



28 IN MEMORIAM. 

cussed, and could always restate them with 
precision and fullness. It followed from this 
that in argument he was singularly ready 
and acute, being never at fault for either 
thoughts or suitable expressions. His mind 
was rather legal than philosophical, and his 
intellectual leaning more to metaphysics 
than science. He might have been eminent 
at the bar or in the chair of logic, had his 
calling been such. But these mental char- 
acteristics appeared far more in conversa- 
tion than in preaching, in which neither 
argument nor metaphysics held a prominent 
place. His delight was to unfold Scripture 
and dwell upon the perfections of the Re- 
deemer. Of this theme he never grew 
weary, and to him, " Thus saith the Lord " 
stood in the place of all argument. 

Upon the platform he was a great favor- 
ite, and there were few occasions of mis- 
sionary gatherings or Bible Society anniver- 
saries when his powers were not called into 
requisition. Then he quickly kindled with 
his theme, and poured forth the unstudied 
utterances of his heart with a most happy 
and engaging facility. Sometimes in these 
extemporary effusions he rose above the 
highest level of his written discourses, but 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 29 

he never disapointed expectation, or failed 
to warn, instruct, and please his audience. 

We might run on at much greater length, 
and still feel that a thousand things had 
been left unsaid which could have been said 
without fear of tiring those for whom we 
write. But what a precious legacy and les- 
son our brother has left to the Church ! How 
fortunate the congregation who has enjoyed 
the ministrations of such a pastor — the 
community which has numbered him 
among its citizens — the brethren who have 
been privileged to watch and share his la- 
bors ! And how solemnly near have the 
closing scenes of his life brought eternity, 
and Christ the eternal Judge, to our view ! 
We have almost been permitted to hear the 
words, " Well done thou good and faithful 
servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 
And shall we not lay it to heart ? Will we 
not all strive to follow him as he followed 
Christ? Blessed is that man whom when 
He cometh his Lord shall find so doing. 

J. H. E. 



A SEEMON", 



PREACHED JULY 30, 1871, IN ST. LUKE'S CHURCH, 

CHARLESTON, S. C, ON THE DEATH OF ITS 

RECTOR, REV. C. P. GADSDEN. 



By Rev. W. B. W. HOWE. 

ASSISTANT BISHOP ELECT. 



Eulogies. — It is difficult to speak in such a way as to 
satisfy your hearer. For one, who knows all about, and who 
loves the dead, will think you fall short of What he knows ; 
while another, not so familiar with them, will suppose you 
have exaggerated, if he hears anything above his own nature. 
For eulogies are endured just so long and so far as each one 
thinks he could do what he hears ; but what goes beyond him, 
he disbelieves. — Thucyd. 2d:3bth. 



" Fervent in spirit; serving the Lord." — Rom. xii. 11. 

In these last chapters of tlie Epistle to 
the Romans, the Apostle enters upon the 
practical lessons which are to be drawn from 
the deep discourse which he had held in the 
earlier and middle portion of his Epistle. 
In this earlier portion, there are " some 
things hard to be understood ; " but in the 
last part, and on to the end, he who " runs 
may read." 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 31 

It is so with my text, and the kindred 
exhortations which accompany it. They all 
speak of the every-day duties of a Christian 
both towards God and towards his neighbor. 
Whether or not we apprehend the " deep 
things of God," which He commissioned his 
servant to 'speak in this Epistle, we need 
not be at fault when we come to words like 
these : " Be kindly affectioned one to an- 
other with brotherly love, in honor prefer- 
ring one another. Not slothful in business : 
fervent in spirit : serving the Lord. Re- 
joicing in hope : patient in tribulation : con- 
tinuing instant in , prayer : distributing to 
the necessity of saints : given to hospital- 

In thinking what Scripture words I should 
choose to place at the head of some remarks 
upon the death of our dear brother, the Rec- 
tor of St. Luke's, among the many which sug- 
gested themselves to me as being character- 
istic of him, were those of the text, " Fer- 
vent in spirit : serving the Lord." I think 
you will all agree with me, though you 
might have chosen other passages, that this 
one belongs to him in a remarkable degree ; 
for to be " fervent in spirit " means to have 
your heart set on fire with zeal for God, 



32 IN ME MORI AM, 

just as Apollos had in Ephesus, who, being 
" fervent in the spirit, spake and taught dili- 
gently the things of the Lord;" and just as 
St. Paul, at Athens, had his " stirred with- 
in him, when he saw the city wholly given 
to idolatary ; " for the " coals thereof," in 
the words of Solomon, " are coals of fire 
which hath a most vehement flame." 

Every one of us have our gifts, one after 
this manner and another after that ; and the 
charismata, as St. Paul calls them, of Chris- 
tians, are natural gifts, heightened and in- 
tensified by the fusing power of the Holy 
Ghost. It is true, some of the ancient cha- 
rismata were eminently supernatural in their 
character ; as, for instance, those gifts of 
healing, the gift of tongues, the interpreta- 
tion of tongues, the discerning of spirits, 
and others. But then again, when the 
Apostle speaks of the Spirit, as " dividing 
unto every man, severally, as He will," and 
when he says, in connection with the text, 
" Having gifts differing according to the 
grace that is given to us," he does not mean 
gifts which are necessarily miraculous, but 
also what we call natural gifts, exalted and 
perfected to the Master's use by the Holy 
Spirit. Even natural gifts come of course 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 33 

from God, but you can conceive how these 
may be expanded and elevated in the manner 
I have tried to indicate. In other words, 
brethren, the grace of God, which is by Je- 
sus, takes us just as it finds us, and makes 
the most it can out of us. Hence you will 
see as great differences among the best of 
Christians as among other people, simply 
because our characteristics are developed in 
the line of their proper direction. 

Now, one striking characteristic of our 
dear brother of St. Luke's, and which, 
probably, has impressed every one who met 
him, was his great earnestness. This was 
his gift by nature, as we say, and had he 
chosen any other calling than that of the 
sacred ministry, he would have unfailingly 
exhibited it. Had he elected the bar, for 
example, his clients would have had him 
with them with all his heart and soul, and 
he would have pressed their interests and 
their claims from court to court. 

Devoting himself, as he did, to the work 
of the ministry, and feeling deeply its re- 
sponsibilities, and having his whole soul, 
down to its lowest depth, pervaded by the 
love of Christ, and being " instant in 
prayer," we need not be surprised at the 



34 IN MEMORIAM. 

one common judgment rendered, not alone 
by the church whose minister he was, but 
by our community, as being a man who was 
" fervent in spirit : serving the Lord." 

Let me then, as well as I can, and crav- 
ing your indulgence for my most imperfect 
sketch, which cannot but disappoint you, 
glance briefly at a most precious life, which, 
for you and me, alas ! has been quenched in 
the grave, but which still lives unto God, 
and which here on earth has not been lived 
in vain. 

Christopher Philip Gadsden, the son of 
John and Ann Gadsden, was born in this 
city on the 5th of August, 1825. By both 
father and mother he came of good Carolina 
stock, identified with the early interests of 
the State, and which bore its full share of 
self-denial with others in the war of the 
colonies with England. He was baptized 
in St. Philip's Church on the 30th of Sep- 
tember, 1825, and at her chancel, in due 
time, with other children of the congrega- 
tion, he " said his catechism." When but 
six years old he lost his father ; and in three 
more years his mother likewise went down 
into the grave, leaving him in charge of a 
widowed maternal aunt ; a woman of de- 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 35 

voted piety, who became a second mother 
to him, and to whom he ever showed an 
affection which was nothing less than filial. 
His second father was his uncle, the late 
Bishop Gadsden. But I must hurry on. 
In due time he entered the South Carolina 
College, and up to this time, I believe, he 
had not exhibited very much, if any, inter- 
est in the things of Christ, which so remark- 
ably characterized his after years. The 
chaplain of the college was Dr. Thorn- 
well, and through his preaching it was, 
under God, that our brother was awakened 
to a higher life, and to the reality of the 
world to come. His baptismal gift, which 
hitherto had lain more or less dormant, now 
burst its seed-coat, and forthwith began to 
bloom. He renewed and ratified his bap- 
tismal covenant in Confirmation, and from 
thence went to the Holy Communion, and 
ever since, as many can testify, has shone 
brightly for Christ, until at last the dawn 
has lost itself in the perfect day. His col- 
lege course was eminently honorable to him- 
self, and he graduated with distinction in 
1844. 1 

1 A classmate writes, in reference to his college life : 
" It was his custom to assemble two or three friends in his 



36 IN MEMORIAM. 

Knowing him as we do now, we need not 
to be told that, on quitting college, he could 
do nothing less than make choice of the 
sacred ministry for his work in life. Pene- 
trated as he was with the deepest affection 
for his Saviour, and with a most ardent love 
for the souls of men, how could he help de- 
voting himself to the work of preaching, 
all his life long, the unsearchable riches of 
Christ ? On leaving college, therefore, he 
became at once a candidate for Holy Orders, 
and pursued his theological studies under 
the direction of his uncle, Bishop Gadsden. 
Completing these according to the prescribed 
course, and having passed the necessary ex- 
aminations, he was admitted into the Di- 
aconate in the latter part of the year 1847, 
and in St. Philip's Church. Immediately 
after his ordination, he was called into the 
parishes of St. Stephen's and Upper St. 
John's, including, also, Middle St. John's 
Berkley, as an assistant minister, in his 
large cure, to Rev. Wm. Dehon, the rector. 
Here he was made Priest in the church in 
Pineville, December, 1849. There, too, in 

rooms, on every Sunday evening, when a sermon was read, 
besides other exercises suitable to the day. I remember we 
listened to nearly the whole of Melville's Sermons, which 
were often selected on such occasions." 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN, 37 

Mr. Dehon, he met an entirely kindred spirit, 
and one who was equally devoted with him- 
self to the service of his Master. They 
were most unlike in temperament, but 
each admirably supplemented the other. 
The one, brimful of a high and holy enthu- 
siasm which never run low ; the other, calm 
and wise, and with a supreme judgment of 
men and things, and of an almost angelic 
purity of character, and as firm as a rock 
when he had reached a conclusion. For 
about five years these two walked hand in 
hand together, and took sweet counsel each 
with the other ; and together they labored 
to win souls unto Jesus, and to build them 
up in the knowledge of the Lord. In those 
days a very large portion of a country cler- 
gyman's labors was upon the plantations, 
and addressed to the then slave population. 
After morning service, at the parish church, 
the clergyman would ride for miles, and 
hold a second and third, and sometimes a 
fourth service, on Sunday. In neat chapels, 
built expressly for worship, or in buildings 
adapted to the same, he would gather his 
congregations, and preach the only Name 
whereby we can be saved, and administer 
the sacraments as the Lord hath appointed. 



38 IN MEMORIAM. 

And the work which these two dear brethren 
did in this way. along with many others. I 
cannot believe to have been all in vain. I 
know it was not at the time, and I believe, 
moreover, hereafter, like u bread cast upon 
the waters." it will be found " after many 
days." We plead the demoralization of the 
late war as an excuse for things which would 
not have been heard of among us before the 
war ; let us remember this when tempted to 
ask. What profit in all this labor that was 
once spent by clergymen upon the old 
plantations ? Shall a moral earthquake 
shake us, and not those also who are on our 
very door-steps ? On week days, as well as 
on Sundays, these faithful labors were car- 
ried on, and to the last of his life our brother 
continued to feel the deepest interest in the 
spiritual welfare of the colored portion of 
his earliest charge. 

Thus time rolled on, and found him " fer- 
vent in spirit, serving the Lord," wherever 
he was. 

In June, 1852. his uncle. Bishop Gadsden. 
Rector of St. Philip's Church, died, and the 
place of assistant minister in that chinch 
became vacant ; and who could more wor- 
thily be called to it than our brother ? It 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 39 

was the church of his ancestry, and of his 
own childhood and youth ; and his affections 
went out to it with all the warmth of his 
generous nature. But a nobler ambition 
stirred within him than merely to minister 
at the time-honored altar of the mother 
church of the diocese, or to preach from her 
. pulpit ; he felt the opportunity which would 
be given him to pray men, "in Christ's 
stead, to be reconciled unto God ; " and so, 
not without pain to his affectionate heart, 
he sundered the connection between him- 
self and the calm quiet of his country par- 
ish, and the " still atmosphere of delight- 
ful studies," and association with the rector 
of Upper St. John's, and came to the city, 
and to the anxieties, and responsibilities, 
and incessant occupation of a large city cure. 
And with what ardor did he throw himself 
into his new work. The Bible class, the 
lecture-room, the Sunday-school ; his ear- 
nest preaching, which drew many to hear 
him ; his visits to the sick and dying, to- 
gether with his zeal and love, which were 
so conspicuous in them all, did they not put 
you in mind of the days of Cobia, and did 
it not seem as if Cobia's mantle had fallen 
upon him ? 



40 IN MEMOR1AM. 

And in addition to all this strictly parish 
work, lie soon found himself on important 
church committees, where his quick percep- 
tions and fertile mind were invaluable. A 
member of the Board of Managers of the 
Society for the Advancement of Christianity 
in South Carolina, I have over and over 
again admired the facility with which, al- 
most in a twinkling, he would suggest ways 
to solve difficulties. I have seen the same 
celerity of judgment exhibited in the Stand- 
ing Committee. Sometimes he would be 
overquick to reach his conclusions, but he 
could always give you a reason for them. 
When I have been asked about this or that 
point, and could give no satisfactory answer, 
my next words have generally been, " Gads- 
den can tell you all about it ; " and if he 
did not know, he would be able usually to 
put you in the way of knowing. For years, 
too, he has been a delegate to the General 
Convention of the Church, and has had a 
place among the members composing the 
General Board of Missions. On nearly 
every important church committee in this 
diocese his name was pretty certain to ap- 
pear, and in its duties he took an active and 
useful part. In a word, to show in what 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 41 

esteem he was held at home, where he had 
ministered for well-nigh a quarter of a cen- 
tury, I have but to remind you how, at our 
last Convention, he was repeatedly, and for 
fourteen successive ballots, elected by his 
brethren of the clergy to the Episcopate, 
being at the same time well sustained by 
the laity. And if it had pleased God to 
call him to that office and administration, 
and to have spared his life to enter upon its 
duties, most unquestionably he would have 
exhibited, by his piety, devotion, and zeal, 
some of the very highest characteristics 
which ought ever to mark an incumbent of 
the Apostolic office. 

But not by us alone of South Carolina 
was he esteemed. He was better known 
throughout our whole communion than any 
other clergyman in the diocese. Repeatedly 
has he had from many quarters, and some 
of them the chief cities in the country, calls 
to large and important parishes ; but while 
no man had a larger heart for the interests 
of Christ's kingdom everywhere, he, never- 
theless, clung to Charleston, and to his own 
struggling church, with the most supreme 
devotion. Among his many duties, likewise, 
and for several successive years before the 



42 IN MEM OR I AM. 

late war, lie edited, in conjunction with an- 
other brother and a bosom friend, and who 
could have spoken to you of him far better 
than I can, a church periodical, and did it 
as he did everything else, with the purest 
zeal and love. But whatever else he did, 
the work which he felt to be most directly 
characteristic of the Christian ministry, and 
which certainly most distinguished him, 
was to preach with all his might and main, 
" Jesus Christ and Him crucified." He did 
not, I think, underestimate in others that 
organizing capacity which set in motion 
parish work, such as homes and schools, and 
visiting committees and the like ; but this 
was not his forte. His heart was set on 
pleading for Christ from the pulpit, in the 
Sunday-school, by catechizing children, and 
in meetings for prayer. And he had pecul- 
iar gifts for this work of the ministry, and 
in a measure which is not often possessed 
by his brethren. His elocution, although 
inclined to be redundant, was extremely 
warm and animating : his language easy, 
flowing, and chaste : his fancy, exuberant 
and requiring the bit and check-rein, kin- 
dled as he warmed with his subject ; and as 
he told you of the love of Jesus, and from a 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 43 

heart filled with that love to overflowing, 
his face beamed and his eye brightened, and 
you had before you, and not a doubt of it, 
a man of whom it could be said, " The love 
of Christ constraineth us." How happily 
could he address children ! He was so fer- 
tile in illustrations, and in word-painting, 
that he seldom failed to win their undivided 
attention. If I were to criticise his preach- 
ing, I would say that his heart was so warm, 
that sometimes it was not patient enough 
to wait upon the head, or to allow a suffi- 
cient address to the understanding, but 
leaped at once, and with a single bound, 
to the desired conclusion, and before his 
hearers were quite prepared for it. But 
this, if it was a fault, was only because he 
was so " fervent in spirit." His position in 
church matters, and in reference to theolog- 
ical questions, was distinct and emphatic. 
He was of the Calvinistic school in our 
Church. Here he was with all his heart. 
But what to many of us are the repul- 
sive features in that system of doctrine, he 
never brought out in his preaching — at 
least I never heard him ; and I am con- 
vinced he did not, just because he could not. 
He had too much heart about him, and too 



44 IN MEMORIAM. 

large a share of the affections, and too many 
kindly and cheerful social instincts to preach 
straight out the system of Jonathan Edwards, 
in all its cold and cheerless logic. The side 
of Calvinism which he presented, was ever 
its amiable side, and where we can all agree 
with him heartily, that we " can do nothing 
without Christ," and that every true Chris- 
tian is bound to say with an Apostle, " By 
the grace of God I am what I am." And 
it is the glory of the Anglican Church, my 
brethren, and a mark of her catholicity, that 
she embraces, and truly embraces, men who 
honestly differ within certain prescribed 
limits. If she tolerates Laud on the one 
hand, she no less tolerates Leighton upon 
the other. Tolerates, did I say ? Nay, she 
kisses the hem of Leighton's robes, and reck- 
ons him among her saints. Into this spirit 
of toleration our dear brother fully entered. 1 
Decided as he was in his own views of truth, 
and advocating them with great positive- 
ness and assurance, he never doubted but 

1 He more than tolerated, at times, those who did not see 
as he did in all things. Thus, at the late election already re- 
ferred to, and after a most unusual number of ballotings, he 
withdrew his own name, and nominated, and begged his 
friends to cast their vote for the writer, who had received, 
but not at all to the same extent which he had, a portion of the 
suffrages of the Convention. 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 45 

that you could reject his conclusions with 
just as much sincerity as he embraced them. 
He was not the man to judge you, but left 
you to your own Master to stand or fall. 
Though you were what in common phrase 
is called a " High Churchman," he never for 
a moment thought you could not, conse- 
quently, preach the gospel, or that your 
true position was in communion with the 
see of Rome. And while he thus acknowl- 
edged our right and title to be where we 
are, and that we had a work to do for the 
Master as well as himself, he only asked 
of us not to doubt his loyalty and affection 
to the Church of his fathers, and of the 
English reformers. Brethren, I do not be- 
lieve that the Protestant Episcopal Church 
had, in all our diocese, a truer son, or a 
more devoted admirer than our brother of 
St. Luke's. And, as to the Prayer Book, 
it stood second only to the Bible in his esti- 
mation. No doubt he thought it could be 
amended in some things, as we all do, though 
we might differ as to what things ; but, un- 
der existing circumstances, I do not believe 
he would have favored any change what- 
ever — no, not so much as one iota. 

But while he was thus devoted to the 



46 IN MEM OR I AM. - 

Church in which he had been brought up, 
and while he believed it the most catholic of 
existing communions, he could not shut his 
eyes, any more than the rest of us can, to 
the lovely Christian example, and holy 
walk and zeal, which mark so many who 
do not belong to our household of faith. 
Episcopal ordination he regarded not as es- 
sential to a validly constituted ministry, but 
simply as historical, and as the mode handed 
down from the beginning — important for 
the well-being, but not for the being of the 
ministry. And here he was, to a certain 
extent, sustained by Hooker, and by many 
of the Edwardian and Elizabethan divines, 
who, as some of us think, swayed by their 
sympathies for the necessities of the Conti- 
nental reformers, and by the pressure of 
the Papacy, did, for a while, and in their 
bitter controversies with Rome, some of 
them, comparatively lose sight of the an- 
cient traditions of the universal Church in 
this particular. We all long for unity, and 
to see our Lord's vesture once more with- 
out a rent, and no one more so than did our 
brother ; and with his views, shared by many 
of our brightest lights, he went where some 
of us could not follow him. But whatever 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 47 

he might do in the way of what he thought 
an effort after Christian union, he did not 
consult merely his own aspirations ; but 
what he did in this direction, he did be- 
cause he believed he had a right to do it. 
Never would he have broken the least of 
the laws of his Church, whatever he might 
have thought of their inexpediency, so long 
as they tvere laws, in order to yield to his 
own judgment and inclinations. Here, as 
elsewhere, he would have taken up his cross, 
and never have done violence to what he 
believed to be the declared order of the 
Church. I say all this because some- 
times, he thought himself misunderstood in 
these regards, and because he feared that 
his deep attachment to the Church, as she 
is, was not fully appreciated by others ; but, 
unquestionably, he was mistaken herein, and 
in due time would have seen it. 

In a recent and most pleasant interview 
that I had with him, and in which I told 
him that in the future which awaits me, I 
should lean upon him and count upon his 
support, he told me that I should have it 
earnestly and warmly, and that he had no 
doubt at all of being able to cooperate with 
me fully ; and he added, in reference to him- 



48 IN MEM0R1AM. 

self, that so far from being not fixed in his 
affections for the Church to which he be- 
longed, he felt rather that there were two 
objects on which he had placed them, if 
anything, too strongly, and to the exclusion 
of more distant objects of sympathy, and 
these two objects were his native State, and 
the Church in that State. 

But let me turn elsewhere, and catch a 
brief and passing glimpse of other phases 
of his character. Some of us, my brethren, 
are wont to liye altogether for this world, 
and so as to shut out from our minds the 
powers of the world to come ; while others, 
dwelling upon the unseen and eternal, are 
inclined to underrate the passing claims and 
excitements of temporal interests, and to 
regard them of small moment, in compari- 
son with the truths of our redemption. 
But of our brother, it was said by one who 
knew him well, that he lived in both worlds 
at the same time, more than any other whom 
he was acquainted with. He lived with 
God, and communed with Christ, and yet 
took, without undue absorption, the liveliest 
interest hi all that went on in the world 
around him. And is it not hard to connect 
death, and the slumber and silence of the 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 49 

grave, with such active persons, who have 
taken part in almost everything ? Does it 
not seem as if the places which heretofore 
have known them so well must know them 
again ? It is so with him whom we mourn. 
It will be long ere we cease to look for him 
at the missionary meeting, at our conven- 
tions, and wherever else, in the Church or in 
the community at large, activity and zeal are 
demanded. 

Glance at the words of Scripture which 
St. Paul has written in close connection 
with the text, and how do we seem to see 
our brother in them, as in a mirror, " re- 
joicing in hope, patient in tribulation,, con- 
tinuing instant in prayer, given to hospi- 
tality." Who that knew him well does not 
know how unfailingly the faith that was in 
Jesus made him, in the language of the 
Apostle, to " rejoice in hope " ? Like all of 
us, he had his share of discouragements, and 
consequent times of depression, but invaria- 
bly his soul took wing for, and found a ref- 
uge in, the things which are above, " where 
Christ sitteth at the right hand of God," 
and "he endured as seeing Him who is in- 
visible." It is not too much to say of him, 
in this connection, that in him the beautiful 
4 



50 IN MEMORIAL. 

Collect for Ascension Day met, more or less, 
its answer : " Grant, we beseech Thee, Al- 
mighty God, that like as we do believe thy 
Only Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, 
to have ascended into the heavens, so we 
may. also, in heart and mind thither ascend. 
and with Him continually dwell, who liveth 
and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, 
one God, world without end." And how 
characteristic of him, also, are those other 
words of the Apostle, " distributing to the 
necessity of saints. " Few who claimed his 
aid went from his door unassisted, if they 
had the smallest' right to call upon him. If 
they did go away unhelped, it was simply 
because he had nothing to share with them. 
By nature he was full of generous impulses, 
and so. when grace came to be added to na- 
ture, he only felt the more deeply the truth 
of that saying of our Lord. ** It is more 
blessed to give than to receive." If such 
men had the ability to give as well as the 
ivill to give, what a different aspect would 
be presented by the struggling Church of 
Christ ! But God's gifts are divided, and to 
some He gives the ability without the will, 
and to others the will without the ability. 
" Continuing instant in prayer." In obe- 






REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 51 

dience to this injunction, none but the 
Father, who seeth in secret, and unto whom 
all hearts are open, and all desires known, 
knows how often, in the retirement of the 
closet, and at stated hours of the day, he 
made known his requests, and sought the 
throne of grace. But here we may not 
enter, for the Divine command reads thus : 
" But thou, when thou prayest, enter into 
thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy 
door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, 
and thy Father which seeth in secret shall 
reward thee openly." " Given to hospi- 
tality." How well, likewise, did he exem- 
plify this Christian grace. Says the Apos- 
tle, in another place, " Be not forgetful to 
entertain strangers ; for thereby some have 
entertained angels unawares." If a clergy- 
man, a stranger, chanced to be in town, and 
staying at one of our hotels, our brother no 
sooner heard of it than immediately, if it 
was possible for him, he "took him unto 
his own home." He was never more pleased 
than when, at church gatherings, he had his 
house filled with Christian friends, and one 
great regret with him for the loss of prop- 
erty was, that it denied him, to a great ex- 
tent, the exercise of this most beautiful and 



52 IN MEMORIAM. 

charming Christian grace. And thus, while 
he enjoyed life, and was usually yery cheer- 
ful, he continued to look " not at the things 
which are seen, but at the things which are 
not seen ; for the things which are seen are 
temporal ; but the things which are not seen 
are eternal." 

But I must retrace my steps somewhat, 
and take up the thread of his outer life 
where last I dropped it. I left him at St. 
Philip's Church in 1852, its assistant min- 
ister, and doing and believing all that I have 
said. He continued there until the 1st of 
March, 1858, when he left, to become the 
Rector of St. Luke's. His leaving St. Phil- 
ip's was one of the great trials of his life, 
as you may suppose ; but he met it under a 
strong sense of duty. There was no Epis- 
copal church at that time in the eastern 
part of our city, and one seemed to be called 
for ; and no one could enter on such a work 
as building up a new church, and with the 
same prospects of success, as could the as- 
sistant minister of St. Philip's. The Bishop 
of the Diocese, after careful consideration, 
advised him to the step ; and so, leaving all 
behind, and looking to that which was be- 
fore him, he began his new work in a tern- 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 53 

porary building, which is now occupied by 
the congregation of St. Mark's. And the 
record of his work among you, my brethren, 
from that day until Sunday, two weeks ago, 
when he put off his armor, is too familiar 
for me to rehearse it in detail. For nearly 
thirteen years he has been in and out before 
you, shrinking from no sacrifice ; neither 
sparing himself in any particular, if thereby 
he might win souls to Christ. You know 
how he not only gave himself, but was 
willing to give all that he had of worldly 
substance, to relieve this church of its 
pecuniary embarrassments. You remember 
how, for a time, he would receive nothing 
from you in the way of salary, because he 
would have all your ability turned towards 
the church building itself. Who of you 
does not know how nobly he met such diffi- 
culties and discouragements as would have 
made the hearts of most of us sink into de- 
spondency ? And all this while, as I have 
intimated already, he was receiving the most 
pressing invitations to take charge of large 
and wealthy congregations. Let it be re- 
membered, to the honor and glory of Christ, 
that we have had among us, in these hard, 
self-seeking times, a man who, while repeat- 



54 IN MEMORIAM. 

edly offered abundant support if he would 
go elsewhere, invariably answered no, and 
said he was ready to sell all that the war 
had left him, and take rooms, and live by 
the weekly offertory, if, thereby, this church 
could be freed from debt. No wonder that 
our whole community, almost, seemed to be 
at the grave of such a man last Tuesday. 
By so doing, it did itself honor, as well as 
him. And you most of all, as well you 
may, my dear brethren, now feel his loss 
and appreciate his labors. It has been a 
hard struggle with you, since the war, to 
live. I felt it would be, when, standing on 
this spot after the evacuation of the city by 
the Confederate forces, I saw the devouring 
fires sweep over this portion of the town and 
leave it a blackened desert. But faint not, 
be of good courage, for the memory of such 
a man as your rector must carry a blessing 
with it, as I trust you will find, not many 
days hence. 

I come now to the last, sad, but trium- 
phant chapter in your dear rector's life. 
Somewhat more than a year ago he had a 
most desperate illness, in which he almost 
descended into the very jaws of death. 
Almost by a miracle his life was spared to 






REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 55 

us. On his convalescence, your affection 
made it possible for him to seek renewed 
health in the bracing air of the mountains 
at the North. He returned to you in the 
autumn, and, after a " silence of eight 
months," once more ministered from the 
chancel and the pulpit on the 6th of No- 
vember last. As I write, I have before me 
the sermon which he preached on that occa- 
sion. It is full of earnestness and affection. 
He prays to be consecrated afresh to his 
Master's service, and to you. " And for me, 
that utterance may be given unto me, that 
I may open my mouth boldly to make known 
the mystery of the gospel ! " This was the 
text from which he spoke on that occasion. 
And the conclusion of that sermon runs in 
this wise : " My dear brethren," said he, 
" may God grant that the ministry renewed 
among you to-day may be full of Christ, a 
true witness ever to his person and work ; 
and through the presence and grace of the 
Holy Spirit, may it be humbly instrumental 
in bringing his redeemed ones, by his cross 
and passion, through a holy walk here to 
the glory which He has purchased in heaven. 
For this, let us as a congregation unitedly 
pray, as we render thanks to God for his 



56 IN MEMORIAM. 

goodness, and consecrate ourselves to his 
service." 

Recovering, as he did, from so desperate 
an illness, and almost brought back from 
the grave by our prayers, many of us 
thought that a long and useful career was 
before him. Day by day, and month by 
month, his strength returned, and only 
within two or three weeks past he has been 
heard to say that he never felt better, and 
that some of the elasticity of his youth had 
come back to him. Feeling himself so 
much better, he undertook more work, and 
when remonstrated with about it, replied 
pleasantly, " What is the use of being a 
well man, if one cannot work ? " Your ves- 
try and yourselves, and those nearest to 
him, prayed him not to undertake quite so 
much, at least while the hot weather lasted ; 
but he could not be persuaded, and felt that 
his increase of work was a duty. Since 
June he has been preaching twice on 
Sunday, together with instructing the 
children of the Sunday-school in the Creed. 
Whether or not this helped to prostrate him 
a second time, and that, too, after only seven 
months of seeming health, it is useless and 
more than idle for us to ask. On the last 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 57 

Sunday morning, when he arose and pre- 
pared for service, he found the mainspring 
of his watch broken; and that was quite 
the case with the owner. Almost the en- 
tire machinery of life became suspended, 
and important organs of the body, by com- 
mon consent, refused to discharge their 
functions. Ill as he felt himself to be, he 
nevertheless went through the services of 
the day. He very early realized that this 
was to be his last sickness, and he girded 
his soul accordingly for the encounter with 
the inevitable. 

His mind was perfectly clear, and for 
several days he was free of pain. Not 
until near the close did physical distress fall 
upon him. His faith was firm, and when I 
first saw him he was not only calm, but 
cheerful. I think it would have been a 
great disappointment to him to have re- 
covered. I am sure he would not, if he 
could, have exchanged his sick bed for the 
most robust health that any of us enjoy. I 
am convinced that he longed to depart and 
be with Christ. He told me on that first 
visit, which was necessarily brief, that he 
had drawn exceeding great comfort from the 
words, " If I go and prepare a place for you, 



58 IN MEMORIAM. 

I will come again and receive you unto 
myself.*- " Especially,'' said he, " the 
words, 1 1 will receive you unto myself." " 
He had been thinking, too, of the text 
on which he had preached on Sunday 
afternoon, and his last one, " Seeing Him 
who is invisible," and he had tried to 
form some conception of what death was, 
but could not, and dismissed it. 

He asked me to come to him the next 
day, and administer the communion, and 
with that, and a fervent ;i God bless you'' 
on his part and on mine. I left him. As 
night approached he became worse, and 
very restless, and expressed much anxiety 
to his friends lest he should not be able 
to partake of the communion the next 
day : and when I called late to learn how 
he was, and heard how much worse he 
had become, I thought that most likely 
on the next day, as one of his vestry 
said, he would drink of the new wine in 
his Father's kingdom, and be far beyond 
the sphere of sacraments. I went to him, 
however, the next morning, which was 
Sunday, at seven, and found him calm 
and collected, and anxiously awaiting me. 
His face beamed upon me as I approached 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 59 

him, and when I quoted the words of our 
Lord, " With desire have I desired to eat 
this passover with you before I suffer," 
he said, " Yes," but added, as if for him 
the communion, at that solemn hour, must 
be something more than fellowship, " I 
feel the need of all the grace I can obtain 
for my trial." People's religious culture 
and association must affect them in death 
as well as in life, and with us of the An- 
glican Church the Holy Communion is the 
crowning preparation for the passage from 
this world into the next ; and our brother, 
in his desire to receive it, felt only as Hooker 
and Herbert did, and all the old worthies 
of the Church of England. He received 
with thankfulness and profound devotion, 
and as the high and holy service approached 
conclusion, and we all united in the Lord's 
Prayer, his voice was loud and clear, and 
especially and very deeply emphatic at the 
words, " Thy kingdom come." When we 
passed to the Gloria in Excelsis, I subdued 
my own voice so as that he might lead us 
all through that glorious hymn, and well did 
he bear his part, saying firmly and ador- 
ingly, with hands clasped and eyes raised : 
" We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we wor- 



60 IN MEM OR 1 AM. 

ship Thee, we glorify Thee, we give thanks 
to Thee for thy great glory, O Lord God, 
Heavenly King, God the Father Almighty." 
I could not leave him immediately as the 
service ended, but waited a few moments, 
as he did not seem too much fatigued, and 
when I sat down beside him he said, " I am 
a poor sinner saved by grace ; " and then a 
moment after he added, " My constant 
prayer is, ' Lead me to the Rock that is 
higher than L' I want to feel my feet on 
that Rock." I asked him what message I 
should bear from him to his brethren of 
the clergy, and without hesitation he said, 
" Tell them to serve Christ, to love Christ, 
and to preach Christ." It seemed to me as 
if he could not express himself too strongly, 
and that he could not find words enough to 
say all he felt in regard to that only name 
whereby we must be saved. I could not 
think of staying longer, but tore myself 
away. Steadily, and in spite of the most 
unflagging devotion on the part of his phy- 
sicians, did he sink downward towards the 
grave, and when I saw him on Monday 
morning he was far advanced on the way to 
his heavenly home. I offered brief prayer 
for him, but he could not follow me, and in 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 61 

a few hours more he had peacefully, and 
without a sigh, entered upon his inheritance. 
His face, as he lay robed in his surplice, 
carried no mark upon it of the recent phys- 
ical distress, but seemed indicative of the 
" rest which remaineth for the people of 
God," it looked so placid in the last sleep. 

And now his earthly part lies in yonder 
churchyard, 1 along with the sacred dust of 
kinsfolk and friends. The sweet hymn and 
the ponderous sound of the organ will come 
nigh his resting-place, but they will not 
wake him. He is far away in the bright 
and blessed country, and as Walton speaks 
of Herbert singing hymns in heaven with 
his friend Ferrar, so is our brother singing 
in paradise with Dehon, and Wallace, and 
Cobia, and Kaufman, and his uncle the 
Bishop, who lie around him ; and with them, 
in due time, he shall have part in the first 
resurrection. 

My brethren, I have spoken long, and 
yet I feel I have omitted far more than I 
have set down. I have spoken of his zeal 
and his self-sacrificing spirit ; I have spoken 
of him as a preacher and a theologian ; but 
I have told you little of his inner life, how 
he walked with God ; what a man of prayer 
i St. Philip's. 



62 IN MEliORIAM. 

he was : how full of the Holy Ghost he 
was : how much he loved and reverenced 
the Word of God. and fed upon it. His 
outer life, which I have told you of. and 
which was known and read by yon all. was 
but the visible sign of all this inward grace. 
He was what he was. because the Spirit of 
Christ dwelt in him richly, and filled him 
with love, and joy and peace in believing. 
But. imperfectly as I have spoken. I must 
come to an end. and where I have failed to 
set him before you. leave you to fill up the 
sketch. Yon will not soon forget him. or 
his abundant affection for. and deep interest 
in you. " Be ye also ready." and let me be 
also ready, "for in such an hour as we 
think not. the Son of Man eonieth." May 
we all. brethren, follow him as he followed 
Christ, and meet him above, and with him 
spend a blessed eternity. 

Bear with me a few moments more, and 
I will release you. Permit me to say. that 
one of our brother's chiefest anxieties in life 
was the debt hanging over this church. It 
was a constant source of grief to him. and 
fear lest, after having been consecrated to 
God. it should be offered for sale, and so 
be lost to uiir Church : and to avert so dire 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 63 

a consummation, lie stood ready to pledge 
every cent he had in the world. If such a 
thing had happened, I believe it would have 
broken his heart outright. Your vestry had 
recently been able to put a more cheerful 
face on matters, and to arrange for the debt 
satisfactorily, when suddenly, in the death 
of the rector, the heaviest blow fell on 
you ; for the whole arrangement was based 
on his being at the helm. But what, breth- 
ren, will you do now ? Will you pause, or 
will you go on ? If the memory of your 
rector is dear to you, as I know it is, you 
cannot let this church go from us without 
an effort; you cannot let the auctioneer 
stand where his feet have stood for ten 
years, and sell to the highest bidder. You 
cannot let the sound of the mart be heard 
where his voice, now stilled in death, has 
spoken to you of the love of Jesus. Breth- 
ren, these walls must be his monument — 
this church must be a memorial church. It 
cannot be that a lif e such as his should leave 
no mark behind it. If this church is sold 
beyond our communion, let Charleston 
churchmen hang their heads for shame. Its 
debt should be paid for the honor of the 
dead, even if its doors be nailed up the next 
day, and you have to wait for more auspi- 



64 IN MEM OR I AM. 

cious times to reopen them. And we are 
all with you in this matter, and we mean. I 
trust, to make common cause with you. only 
you must lead the way. From all the pul- 
pits of our churches in the city, our congre- 
gations will to-day be asked to come up to 
your help, and I do not believe the appeal 
will be made in vain. When men hear the 
y of our brother's life, and how he 
wrought, they will be sure to help you for 
his sake, and to avert so sad an ending as 
the sale of this church. 

Be strong, then, and of good courage in 
this day of darkness, and God will strengthen 
your hands and establish your hearts. Go 
to your brother churchmen and fellow 
Christians, and say to them. Help us in our 
need. We mean to rear no marble column 
on which to write of the prowess of a mili- 
tary chieftain : we do not ask you to help 
us tell in stone of the fame of the states- 
man: but we ask you to work together with 
us to preserve in our communion a memo- 
rial of one who was a good soldier of Jesus 
Christ, who fought a good fight, and for 
whom there is laid up a crown of life, which 
the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give him 
at the last day. and not to him only, but 
unto all who love his appearing. Amen ! 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 65 
EXTRACT FROM SERMON BY REV. A. T. PORTER. 

" You have keenly in your mind, I trust, 
a sense of the great loss which has befallen 
the Church especially, and the whole com- 
munity in general. A good man is a great 
treasure to any people : his teaching, his 
example, his walk and conversation, his 
labors and his prayers are precious in God's 
sight. We are so short-sighted, and so sel- 
dom appreciate our blessings until they are 
taken from us, that it is not common for us 
to make much of them that fear the Lord ; 
but when the righteous perish, we wake up 
to the fact, and remember for a moment that 
a light has suddenly been put out. Our 
dear brother in the sacred ministry, who has 
so recently gone to his rest, was a striking 
illustration of one who pressed toward the 
mark. If there was one characteristic more 
prominent than another in his strongly 
marked character, so well known among us, 
it was that he had set the Lord Jesus Christ 
before himself as his all in all ; in fact, it 
was the characteristic which toned his whole 
life. His devotion to the Saviour was that of 
intense and child-like love ; he had utilized 
his faith, and his personal Lord was as a 

5 



G6 IN MEM OKI AM. 

present and near companion. He served 
Him because he loved Him : to exalt that 
Saviour, to magnify his grace and love, to 
impress the value and preciousness of his 
death and resurrection and continual inter- 
cession, to draw men to his feet, and to 
teach them to believe and love Hini, all this 
was the one object of his life. Jesus was 
the theme of all his preaching. Jesus vras 
the pattern of his life. Jesus concentered 
in Himself every hope and aspiration of his 
mind and heart and soul, in life and in death 
the same. Gifted vrith a mind of more than 
ordinary ability, vrith powers of extraordi- 
nary endurance, his zeal in every good work 
never flagged. Gadsden never thought of 
himself. Like his blessed Lord, if there 
was anything to be done, at whatever sac- 
rifice, if he could further an enterprise or 
help a brother, he did not know how to say 
no. His utter unselfishness was one of the 
many beautiful traits of this godly man : 
differing materially with him hi certain 
points of theology and in the administration 
of the Church, as some of us did, yet his 
large heart never allowed him to withhold his 
support and countenance from any brother, 
who needed his aid. And in a ministry of 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 67 

seventeen years side by side, we have taken 
sweet counsel together, and walked in the 
house of God as friends. His clear head, 
sound judgment, and practical sense made 
him a man of extraordinary usefulness in 
all the positions he held. Only in the 
Church could men holding such different 
views have worked together in harmony and 
love. So long as we obey her rubrics and 
canons, and hold to her order, creed, and 
liturgy, her catholic system enables her 
children to strive as brethren in the great 
work of a world's conversion, though they 
may not find the current of their thoughts 
running always in the same channel ; and 
here she asserts her superiority to sectarian- 
ism. 

" Now our brother has gone ; his labors are 
forever over, his rest is permanent, his re- 
ward is sure. But being dead, he yet speak- 
eth. Surely the example of such a life must 
give us renewed confidence in the strength 
and freeness of Divine grace. The traits 
which have called forth such a universal ex- 
pression of admiration and affection, must 
stimulate us to emulate him. Who of us 
has not said, ' Let me die the death of the 
righteous, and let my last end be like his ' ? 



68 



IN MEMORIAM. 



Then, my brethren, like him, may we all 
set before us the Lord Christ. 0, let us 
strive to realize more fully the awful nature 
of sin, and the countless price of that atone- 
ment which the only begotten Son of God 
has offered for us ; let us strive to understand 
how, as a prevailing intercessor, ' He ever 
liveth to make intercession for us.' Let us - 
endeavor more and more to bring before 
our eyes the living, loving Christ ; touch 
Him, live for Him, follow Him, love Him, 
obey Him ! Then shall we, as our brother 
did, make sure of the prize, and prove the 
truth of our high calling in Christ Jesus." 



MEMORIAL TRIBUTE IX THE GENERAL CONVEN- 
TION. 

At the General Convention held in Balti- 
more, October, 1871, the following tribute 
was adopted, and remarks made. 

The Rev. Dr. Pinckney, of South Carolina, 
said : — 

Mr. President, I beg leave to offer the 
following resolution : 

Resolved, That this House records upon 
its journal the sense of our loss in the death 
of the Rev. Christopher P. Gadsden, of the 
Diocese of South Carolina, whose high char- 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 69 

acter and fervent spirit had endeared him 
to many hearts, and promised even longer 
usefulness in the Church of God. 

He was one of the delegates to this Con- 
vention, sir, as well as a member of the last ; 
and, with the permission of the House, at 
the suggestion of a friend, I beg leave to 
insert the words " deputy elect to this Con- 
vention." 

The President. That amendment will 
be made. 

The Rev. Dr. Pinckney, of South Caro- 
lina. Mr. President, I beg leave to add 
one word, while I offer to the House for its 
consideration this resolution. 

My friend and brother had served one 
session with this General Convention, and 
I have been deeply gratified to find that his 
character and his love for Christ and the 
Church have been appreciated by many. 
We who have known him better in life can 
estimate more truly his value, and we la- 
ment more his loss. He was a man of ele- 
vated Christian character, a man of integ- 
rity, a man of truth. I have seldom on 
earth met one more endowed with those 
noble characteristics, open, honest, out- 
spoken, without concealment, an honest and 



70 IN MEMORIAM. 

upright man, whom every one felt that you 
could trust, and honor, and reverence, and 
love. His missionary zeal has been invalu- 
able to us in our diocese, and in the de- 
pressed condition of our Church we sadly 
miss his wisdom, his energy, his earnestness, 
the fertility of his resources, which had 
proved invaluable to us in our diocesan diffi- 
culties and conferences. And, sir, that mis- 
sionary zeal had impressed itself upon his 
character and upon his heart, and it secured 
for him the love and reverence of our whole 
people. I doubt whether any man has died 
in South Carolina more loved and more 
reverenced, and whose death has touched a 
greater number of hearts, in many, many 
years past. I have certainly never seen 
such crowds collected at any man's funeral 
since the burial of John C. Calhoun. And 
just before his death, prayer was offered for 
him by Christians of every name in that 
city, Protestant and Roman Catholic : all 
combined around his grave in one common 
testimony of affection, esteem, and regard. 

Let me add one circumstance which shows 
how he had impressed himself upon the col- 
ored population of the South. He was an 
ardent advocate of preaching the gospel to 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 71 

the colored race, and from his earliest min- 
istry he had been zealously devoted to this 
purpose and object. A few days before his 
death, I met one of the colored leaders of 
the churches of Charleston, and he inquired 
after the health of our friend. I reported 
the physician's opinion of his case, and I felt 
deeply this man's answer. " Sir," said he, 
"God will spare, I trust, that minister of 
Christ. Last night our circles of prayer 
met, and we all agreed to pray for his val- 
ued life ; and there were two thousand col- 
ored men last night, in this city, engaged in 
prayer for the restoration of his health and 
the prolongation of his life." I felt that 
his zeal, his diligence, his earnestness, had 
been appreciated by those to whom so much 
of his ministry had been devoted. 

Mr. President, I think I can condense in 
a single sentence what struck me as his 
great characteristic. He was a faithful sol- 
dier and servant of Christ Jesus, and I have 
never met any Christian minister in this 
country or in England who seemed to me to 
embody more of the spirit of the baptismal 
vow. In his daily life and conduct and con- 
versation, in the pulpit and out of it, in 
convention, diocesan or general, anywhere 



72 IN MEMORIAM. 

and everywhere, he maintained that spirit 
of fidelity to Christ. The love of Christ 
constrained him. He was eminently a faith- 
ful soldier and servant of Christ Jesus unto 
his life's end ; and that end, as we would 
say, came prematurely. He was not forty- 
six years of age, and yet he had been 
twenty-five years in the Christian ministry, 
and had deeply stamped his earnest, ener- 
getic spirit upon the Church which he loved, 
and for which he labored. 

Our friends from Pennsylvania have 
asked our expression of sympathy in the 
death of that venerable man, whom I re- 
member well as one of the bulwarks and or- 
naments of this Convention. I fully sym- 
pathize with them in a sense of their loss, 
for that venerable gentleman had struck me 
as so remarkable for his Christian courtesy, 
and his manliness and honesty of charac- 
ter. But, sir, he was in ripe old age. He 
had run his course. He was ready to be 
gathered to his fathers. But this, our friend 
and brother, whose loss we now deplore, was 
in the very meridian of his days, and the 
fullness of his usefulness. He seems to us 
to have been prematurely called away ; but 
he had served God faithfully in his day, and 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 73 

then he had lived already a long and useful 
life, and his death was like his life, full of 
love to his Master. I might fitly express 
the spirit in which he died by the lines 
which he made familiar to many hearts in 
our community, and which have already 
struck many a chord, namely, a verse writ- 
ten in his Bible many years since, com- 
posed by Dr. Valpy; and it breathes so 
beautifully the spirit of Christ, which was 
the spirit of his whole life and ministry, 
that I venture, even perhaps contrary to 
precedent, to repeat it here to you : 

" In peace let me resign my breath, 
And Thy salvation see ; 
My sins deserve eternal death, 
But Jesus died for me ! " 

That was the spirit of his life — the 
spirit of his ministry ; and I am sure 
my ministerial brethren will coincide with 
me when I say that it embodies the sum 
and substance, the life and the marrow, of 
the gospel message with which we are en- 
trusted. 

I move, sir, the adoption of this resolution 
which I have presented. 

The Rev. Dr. Haight, of New York. I 
had not the good fortune to know our 



74 IN ME MORI AM. 

reverend friend until the time of the last 
General Convention. At that time we were 
brought into contact more especially by our 
common interest in the missionary work 
of the Church among the Africans at the 
South. He came to me just before the last- 
Convention to beg me to use my utmost in- 
fluence, not to relax my own interest and 
my own efforts in that work, but to en- 
deavor, if possible, to induce the Board of 
Missions to continue, and, if practicable, to 
make that work more efficient. He came 
to speak to me about the school in Charles- 
ton, which had been the object of very deep 
interest to that commission, and for which 
we had incurred very heavy responsibilities. 
I never can forget the simplicity and the 
earnestness and the wisdom of his words : 
and it was at my suggestion that he em- 
bodied what he had said to me, in a letter 
which was addressed to our commission, and 
was placed in the report of that year of the 
commission of Home Missions for Colored 
People ; which was read by many with deep- 
est interest, and no doubt contributed to the 
deepening of the feeling of the Board of 
Missions, that, notwithstanding the difficul- 
ties with which that mission had been en- 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 75 

vironed, notwithstanding the apathy and 
the prejudice of the Church, North and 
South, that mission could not be relin- 
quished with honor or with safety. 

I was very much struck during the last 
General Convention with his course on this 
floor. There was something so manly, so 
noble, so entirely in accordance with the 
spirit of the wisest and the best men which 
this Church has ever seen, that I felt there 
was a man of power, intellectually and 
spiritually ; that there was a man whose 
labors and whose prayers would never be 
wanting for the best interests of his Church. 

Xo doubt, sir, we differed ecclesiastically 
and theologically, and, perhaps, in some re- 
spects widely ; but he was one of those 
large-hearted and large-minded men, with 
whom I had no difficulty whatever in hold- 
ing the sweetest converse, to whom I could 
unburden my own mind, feeling that I was 
talking to a friend, to a brother in Christ 
Jesus, one who I knew would never make 
a wrong use of what I said, in whose honor 
I could confide : and if this spirit could only 
prevail universally in this Church, of trust 
and confidence one in the other ; if we could 
get rid of the miserable jealousies and sus- 



T6 IN MEMORIAM. 

pieions which abound, the position of tliis 

Church would at once rise gloriously in the 

sight of the world, and in the sight of our 
© © 

adorable Lord and Saviour. 

I pray God that the spirit of that man 
may be the spirit of us all. in our several 
degrees. But fevr of us can hope to attain, 
miserable sinners as we are. to the height 
of spirituality to which he attained : but few 
of us can hope to leave the record which he 
has left of perfect sincerity, of undoubting 
faith, of holy obedience : and God give us 
grace in our measures, in our lot, to follow 
h im , though at great distance, even as he 
followed Christ and the holy Apostles. 

Mr. MeCrady, of South Carolina. Mr. 
President, it would not be well that the 
voice of the laity should not be heard, from 
the Diocese of South Carolina, and I shall 
say but a few words. TThat I shall say 
will not be in the form of eulogy, but I will 
leave what I know he has done k for 

itself. I will not tell about his ministry : I 
will not tell about his faith, his integrity, 
his courage : but I will say this : when, after 
the war. we were many of us destitute, his 
church found itself in debt, with a decree 
against it for sale to pay the debt. A long 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 77 

friendship had existed between the reverend 
gentleman and myself, although he was 
much my junior ; and he came to me and 
stated what he was worth, showed me all 
that he had, and said all must go to save 
that church ; and he put it at my disposal 
at a time when what he had was not worth 
half as much as it was in former times. I 
took it, and told him I would do the best I 
could, but he must leave it to me. He did 
leave it to me, and I did my best. I trust 
that something may be saved to him. I 
trust that efforts are now making, poor as 
we are in the city of Charleston, to save 
him from loss on account of that church. 
But he was willing to give everything, so 
much as he possessed of worldly goods. 

He was a man devoted to his opinions. 
I had a test of this, on one occasion, when 
he was assistant minister to St. Philip's 
Church ; on a visit to him we were talking 
about the Prayer Book, to which he was de- 
votedly attached, and which he reverenced, 
and it was because of his reverence and at- 
tachment to it that he listened to what I had 
to say. I pointed out to him one word 
which I told him I could never use in the 
Prayer Book. He promptly said that he 



78 IN MEMORIAM. 

would not change a word, and said it in a 
decided manner and with much temper, as I 
thought at the time, so that I said not an- 
other word. A year afterwards, on board 
of a steamboat, Mr. Gadsden said to me, 
" Mr. McCrady, I have never been able to 
use that word, since you spoke to me, as I 
did before ; can we not change it ? Why 
don't you make some effort to change it ? " 
I said that, as I thought, there were no op- 
portunities. 

In 1862, when the Church sat in council 
for the Southern States, there was a great 
desire to revise the Prayer Book, and it 
finally was committed to three Bishops 
chosen by the House of Bishops, three Pres- 
byters chosen by the House of Delegates, 
and three laymen ; I was one of the latter. 
That commission had but one meeting. At 
that meeting, to my surprise, the first letter 
that I remember to have opened was a let- 
ter from Gadsden, directed to the Bishop 
who was presiding, Bishop Elliott, calling 
his attention to the very word, and asking 
that that might be changed, and referring 
to myself as having suggested it to him. 

Now, Mr. President and gentlemen, this 
is difficult to conceive by those who knew 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 79 

Mr. Gadsden well, who knew that he would 
part with every dollar he had, sooner than 
he would part with his opinions ; and yet 
that gentleman had the courage and the 
generosity, through pure conviction, to be 
willing to do that. Let me say, however, 
that I believe when he came here and sat in 
1868, nothing would have induced him to 
change a word in that Prayer Book. I 
think he then thought — and it was from 
the result of conversation with him that I 
say so — that there was too much effort 
then making to make alterations in the 
Prayer Book, and that it must lead to 
trouble. He had, therefore, made up his 
mind to take it just as it was, and on no 
account to make an alteration. I say this 
in justice to him who cannot speak for him- 
self, who I know would have said that here, 
if he could have been present and had heard 
what I have now related. 

Mr. President, I have not a word of 
eulogy to pronounce ; I am but a poor eulo- 
gist ; but if what I have related does not 
speak for him, no language would give ut- 
terance to that which ought to be said. 

The resolution was agreed to unanimously 
by a rising vote. 



II. 

TRIBUTES FROM BRETHREN OF OTHER 
DENOMINATIONS. 

BY REV. E. T. WINKLER, D. D., PASTOR CITADEL 
SQUARE BAPTIST CHURCH. 

A T the close of a sermon on " The King- 
-^ dom of God" (Romans xiv. 17), the 
Rev. E. T. Winkler, D. D., Pastor of the 
Citadel Square Baptist Church, made the 
following allusion to the recent death of 
Rev. C. P. Gadsden : — 

" The Kingdom of God ! blessed associa- 
tion to which all true Christians belong; 
sacred, imperishable union of all who love the 
Lord Jesus in sincerity ; how the revelation 
cheers amid earth's losses ! how potently 
it soothes the sense of public bereavement 
which has possessed our hearts for the last 
fortnight, and which to many a considerate 
and grateful spirit would have otherwise 
cast a dreary shadow upon the festivities 
of the Lord's Day ! Who of us has not 
mourned the withdrawal from our com- 
munity of an influence that has been felt 
6 



82 IN MEM0R1AM. 

for good in every social and religious circle ? 
The Episcopal Church, honored as he was 
among its dioceses, had no exclusive claim 
to Mr. Gadsden. Around his dying bed, 
that scene of triumph in his quiet home ; 
beside that mournful couch attended by its 
loving watchers, the sympathies of the whole 
city and the whole State gathered; and 
when he departed, who of us did not feel as 
if something that had made life sweeter and 
better had ceased to be ? Who did not 
grieve for the manly form that had perished 
in its prime ; for the noble spirit that had 
passed away from its fields of usefulness; 
for the wise and generous counsel hence- 
forth silent in the place of ■ Christian com- 
munion; for the bright and honored and 
cheering example so soon absorbed into the 
pure light whence it came ? 

" As for myself, I have no special right 
either to speak of him or for him. It was a 
mere coincidence that we came to Charles- 
ton, for official service, in the same year. 
Since that time I have enjoyed no privilege of 
association with him, save what was pos- 
sessed by other evangelical ministers of the 
city, who frequently united with him in the 
advocacy of the general religious interests 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 83 

of the community, and in prayers for the 
world-wide success of Christ's cause. And 
yet the coincidence, and all the genial and 
inspiring circumstances of that long asso- 
ciation, may justify the expression of a ten- 
der grief that such a discrimination has been 
made by the inscrutable providence of the 
Almighty, and that such a man has been 
taken away. Ah ! if he were here, how 
much more potently could he speak of 
Christ and his salvation, amid the en- 
hanced reverence and affection of the peo- 
ple ! and how greatly we need such potent 
speech ! 

" But let us not mourn for the pious dead. 
Let us rather render a tribute of solemn 
gratitude to God for such men. Let us 
cherish a sense of pious obligation to re- 
member their words and follow their foot- 
steps. They have been summoned from the 
dying chamber and the gloomy grave to the 
shining fields of immortality. They were 
kings in exile here ; they are now kings en- 
throned. From their radiant seats they re- 
gard us, they call to us : and Jesus also looks 
and summons, from the central throne. 
Wherefore, seeing we are compassed about 
with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay 



84 IN MEM OB I AM. 

aside every weight, and the sin which doth 
so easily beset us and run with patience 
the race set before us, looking unto Jesus, 
the Author and Finisher of our faith." , 

BY REV. W. H. ADAMS, PASTOR CIRCULAR (CON- 
GREGATIONAL) CHURCH. 

The Conclusion of a Discourse preached by the Rev. W. H. 

Adams, Pastor of the Circular Church, Charleston, S. C, 

July 30, 1871, commemorative jof the Rev. Christopher P. 
Gadsden, late Rector of St. Luke's {Episcopal) Church. 

u I have glorified Thee on the earth : I have finished the 
work which Thou gavest me to do." — John xvii. 4. 

These are the meditations which, the past 
week, have proved strong consolation in the 
sudden bereavement of an entire community, 
of a faithful pastor, a beloved brother in 
the ministry of reconciliation. 

On this, the first Sabbath in heaven of 
the Rev. Christopher P. Gadsden, his friend, 
the Assistant Bishop elect, will doubtless 
present to that mourning congregation his 
portrayal of his character, history, and dis- 
tinguished services for Christ. But it is a 
grateful duty to the memory of one whose 
blest ministry has not been circumscribed 
by denominational lines, that a minister of 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 85 

another communion, honored by an intimate 
acquaintanceship with the departed, should 
bear testimony that not in his pastorate and 
sect alone, but in all his walk and conversa- 
tion, he glorified God on the earth, and has 
now finished the work He gave him to do. 

It has been the privilege of the speaker 
once each week, as a rule, for more than 
four years, to meet in familiar Christian in- 
tercourse this now translated minister. On 
Monday noon, some of the evangelical min- 
isters of the city have been accustomed to 
assemble for prayer and conference. After 
a half -hour of devotional exercises, a subject 
previously selected, and usually relating to 
experimental religion, is freely discussed. 
It was here that he specially endeared him- 
self to his brethren. Here, in the freedom 
of fraternal intercourse, his true character 
was displayed. Here it specially appeared 
that he glorified God in the entire consecra- 
tion of his highly cultivated faculties and 
his whole heart to the honor of his Saviour. 
To Him all his conversation tended. We 
could almost invariably anticipate the na- 
ture of his remarks ; however varied the 
illustrations, however extensive his citation 
of authorities, Christ was his one theme. 



86 IN MEMORIAM. 

Was the question, " The best practical 
methods of increasing the holiness of the 
Church ; " we knew that he would advise 
that ministers should themselves draw nearer 
to Christ, and preach Christ more fully 
and persuasively. If " Ministerial train- 
ing " were considered, he would certainly 
argue that the primary essential was for the 
candidate to be found in Christ, and to per- 
vade all his studies and life with the spirit 
of Christ. On one occasion, in remarking 
on the subject " What is comprehended in 
saving truth ? " he closed an earnest exhor- 
tation to " make Christ the main theme of 
our discourses," with the words, accompanied 
by his genial smile, " In brief, I think that 
all truth is saving truth which, with one 
arm around the cross, you can touch with 
the other." 

No narrow or sectarian remark ever fell 
from his lips in that meeting. While ever 
professing his firm adherence to the com- 
munion of which he was a minister, he yet 
maintained that he loved the Church Uni- 
versal more. The catholicity of his spirit 
was the tenacious bond which drew and in- 
dissolubly united to him the hearts of breth- 
ren of other denominations, as well as his 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 87 

own. For several months past, tliese meet- 
ings have been held by kind agreement of 
brethren, at my own study. Occasionally, 
by reason of ministerial engagements, there 
would be present none but Bro. Gadsden, 
and at times even he was compulsorily ab- 
sent. Those seasons of intercommunion 
with himself alone will be ever memorable 
among life's rarest privileges. On one oc- 
casion, after an hour's converse on Christian 
union, he, as usual, proposed prayer before 
parting. So deep was the impression made 
by his heavenly-mindedness in these suppli- 
cations, that on the following day I por- 
trayed it to my people. Among his peti- 
tions, he pleaded : " Let not this meeting 
be discontinued. Let it continue a little 
fountain springing up in the midst of the 
week's care, which shall invigorate us for 
more active and self-denying toil in our 
Master's service." 

It was my happiness last summer to meet 
him in Xew York, returning from the White 
Mountains, where his health had been con- 
firmed, and to project an excursion up the 
Hudson River to West Point. As we sat 
upon deck, he related with fervent tones, as 
strong as before his severe illness, his recog- 



88 IN MEMORIAL. 

nition of a gracious Providence in his recov- 
ery. He stated that vrhile being brought 
down from his sick-room in the arms of 
friends, to be taken to Somerville as a last 
resort, he was greeted by a hymn sung by the 
Sunday-school Convention then in session at 
Trinity Methodist Church, diagonally oppo- 
site his residence. He was afterwards told 
that that hymn succeeded a prayer offered 
by the Convention for his recovery. On 
the way to the depot he felt the current of 
his disease receive a check, and from that 
moment his recovery began. He then 
gratefully acknowledged God as the hearer 
of prayer, and the fulfillment of the promise, 
" Before they call will I answer, and while 
they are yet speaking will I hear." 

On being rejoined to his people he 
preached a sermon, a printed copy of which 
he placed on my study-table with the mod- 
est remark that ,; it had been published not 
for any intrinsic merit, but as commemora- 
tive of his restoration to his people." But 
this discourse, the last he ever published, 
contains his creed. Here the secret of his 
consistent walk with God, and his successful 
ministry, is clearly announced. In entreat- 
ing his people's prayers for his resumed min- 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 89 

istry, he selected Paul's request to the 
Ephesians : " And for me, that utterance 
may be given unto me, that I may open my 
mouth boldly, to make known the mystery 
of the gospel." (Eph. yi. 19.) In the ser- 
mon occurs the following passage, suggesting 
the subjects of his people's petitions for 
their pastor : " An outspoken rebuke of 
sin and unbelief ; a steady lifting up of 
Christ as the atonement and righteousness 
of the guilty ; a direct invitation to Him as 
the only hope of the lost ; a courageous 
cleaving to inspired Scripture in all its 
breadth and depth, in the face of cavilers 
and gainsayers ; with an acknowledged de- 
pendence in all things upon the grace of the 
Holy Ghost, — for this I would pray, and 
ask your constant supplications to Almighty 
God, as most necessary for an efficient min- 
istry and a living Church." I cannot re- 
frain from quoting from the close of this 
discourse, which is a noble and befitting 
monument to his whole ministry ; and by 
these solemn words to-day, he, though dead, 
yet speaketh : — 

"As a preacher of the gospel, I am com- 
manded to glory in the cross ; standing at 
its foot, I am to point you to the finished 



90 IN MEMOR1AM. 

redemption accomplished thereon. T am to 
direct the eye of faith to the enthroned Sav- 
iour, pleading as our great High Priest 
within the veil, and bid you with all your 
heart to trust in Him, and realize your pres- 
ent acceptance in the Beloved, your justifi- 
cation as you ' look by faith unto Jesus,' and 
your eternal security as, united to Him 
through the new birth of the Spirit, and in- 
corporated with Him by the Holy Ghost 
dwelling in you, you are ' kept by the power 
of God through faith unto salvation, ready 
to be revealed in the last time.' 

" To every convicted sinner who 4 trem- 
bling ' asks, 4 What must I do to be saved ? : 
I am to make the all-sufficient answer, l Be- 
lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou 
shalt be saved.' To all ' passing by,' how- 
ever thoughtless they may be of their souls 
and the eternity which is before them, I 
must cry (and O ! that the Spirit of God 
may make the words potent !), ' Behold the 
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of 
the world.' I must invite with that most 
tender and attractive call of the Master, 
6 Come unto me all ye that are weary and 
heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' " 

And then he continues, until he has cir- 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 91 

cumscribed the entire circle of faithful invi- 
tation and warning, in pleading with sin- 
ners to " flee from the wrath to come." 
Would that this sermon were in the pos- 
session of all who knew and loved him ! 
They could not have a more adequate me- 
morial. 

Last Sabbath morning, as he lay on the 
confines of eternity, in my deep sorrow I 
opened a favorite book of his, which, im- 
pressed by the frequency of his allusions to 
it, I had borrowed from him. It was a 
copy of that sacred classic, " Rutherford's 
Letters," rendered especially attractive be- 
cause filled with his own pencilings. You 
can realize the depth of feeling sounded, as 
my eye fell upon these words of Rutherford, 
underscored by Brother Gadsden : u There 
is nothing oat of Heaven, next to Christ, 
dearer to me than my ministry" Yes, that 
ministry, which he was about to leave for 
that only dearer object, his Saviour, had 
received his every glad energy ; had evoked 
all the possibilities of his consecrated being. 
Perhaps it was while recovering from sick- 
ness a year since, that he marked the fol- 
lowing passage : " Lord, give me submis- 
sion to wait on. My heart is sad that my 



92 IN ME MORI AM. 

days flee away, and I do no service to my 
Lord in his house, now when his harvest 
and the souls of perishing people require it ; 
but his ways are not like my ways, neither 
can I find Him out. , . . O that I might 
preach his beauty and glory, as once I did, 
before my clay -tent be removed to darkness ; 
and that I might lift Christ off the ground, 
and my branches might be watered with the 
dew of God, and my joy in his work might 
grow green again, and bud and send out a 
flower." This is the last passage marked 
by his pencil, in the volume. If we are 
known by our favorite authors, as by our 
companions, his character is clearly evinced 
not only by his admiration of " the holy 
Rutherford," but also in that this author's 
longing for the salvation of souls, and his 
most rapturous breathings after Christ and 
his precious love, are the passages he has 
the most frequently and uniformly marked. 
Of the former, take this : " O if [that] I 
could buy your soul's salvation with any 
suffering whatever, that ye and I might 
meet with joy up in the rainbow, when we 
shall stand before one Judge ! " and of the 
latter, this : "I resolve to wrestle with 
Christ ere I quit Him. But my love to 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 93 

Him hath casten my soul into a fever, and 
there is no cooling of my fever till I get pos- 
session of Christ. O strong, strong love of 
Jesus, thou hast wounded my heart with 
thine arrows ! O pain ! O pain of love for 
Christ ! Who will help me to praise ? " 

Ah, now that pain is quelled, in its 
measureless increase ; and his more than 
angelic praises are helped by the voices of 
harpers harping on their harps unto the 
Lamb that was slain. 

My friends, to ourselves, as well as to his 
charge and to this community, God is 
solemnly speaking in this our great sorrow. 
Let us take heed that we be also ready. 
Let us also be encouraged. Henceforth let 
it be our meat to do our Heavenly Father's 
will, that if suddenly the Master should 
come and call us from earth, we may be 
able to reply, as could our beloved, lamented, 
redeemed friend : — 

" I have glorified thee on the earth. I 
have finished the work which thou gavest 
me to do." 

BY REV. CHAS. S. VEDDER, PASTOR OF THE 
HUGUENOT CHURCH. 

The following is an extract from a sermon 



9-4 nr MEMORIAM. 

preached by Rev. C. S. Yedder. at the Hu- 
guenot Church. Charleston. S. C. from the 
text. u I will give you rest," Matt. xi. 28. 

; - The last public address of that great- 
hearted and beloved minister of Christ, who 
entered into rest during the past week, was 
upon the dosing words of the Apostle's 
Creed. * life everlasting.' He told the chil- 
dren of his Sabbath-school what life is: 
that natural life is the breath , and 

spiritual life the breath of the Holy Ghost 
Time not then permitting, he promised to 
speak to them, the next Sabbath, upon the 
word • everlasting/ The next Sabbath 
came — he did not. But. from his bed of 
sickness, he sent them word^ that if he had 
spoken to them of everlasting life, it would 
have been to tell them that we could know 
nothing of it until we enter upon it. and that 
now he was going to see what mortal eye 
had not seen, nor ear heard, nor heart con- 
ceived. And he has gone ! From the 
work to which he gave himself with such 
self-sacrificing devotion, he has been called 
to enter into the joy of his Lord, leaving the 
savor of a name which is * as ointment 
poured forth,' and t the memory of words 
which will speak long, long after the lips 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 95 

which uttered them have been mute and 
motionless to earth forever ! He realizes, in 
its fullness, the promise, ; I will give you 
rest ' ! " 

BY REV. J. T. WIGHTMAX. 

The following is the substance of a tribute 
to the Rev. C. P. Gadsden, delivered on the 
Sabbath following his death, from the text, 
" For to me to live is Christ, and to die is 
gain " (Phil. i. 21), at Spring Street Church 
(Methodist Episcopal Church, South), by 
the pastor, Rev. J. T. "Wight-man. 

" This day is a day of mourning. The 
city is clothed in sackcloth. A good and 
great man has fallen. The beloved Gads- 
den is no more. His church is draped in 
mourning, and the altar at which he faith- 
fully ministered is bathed in the tears of 
his devoted people. It is not in my recol- 
lection that mourning was ever so wide- 
spread in this city at the death of a citizen. 
All unite in the common grief, without dis- 
tinction of class or denomination. It would 
seem as if almost any one else could have 
been better given up. My lonely spirit 
cries out, c Would to God I had died for 
thee!' 

81 He was lovely in spirit, exalted hi views, 



96 IN MEM OR 1AM. 

ardent in piety, and he stood in the front 
rank of every movement which advanced 
the kingdom of Christ, His broad and 
catholic spirit rose above barriers which 
circumscribe the charity and labor of most 
men, and bore him ' everywhere doing good 
to all men.' The Bible Society, the Young 
Men's Christian Association, the Orphan 
House, the Confederate Widows' House, 
the Missionary, the Tract, the Sunday- 
school work, every enterprise which looked 
to the elevation of the intellectual and 
moral status of the community, received 
new vigor from his counsels, and new beauty 
from his sympathies. His heart was an 
affluent fountain from which perpetual 
streams flowed forth to nourish the roots of 
every good word and work. 

" He was a man held in universal respect. 
All loved him. I loved him as a brother. 
We now recall with chastened admiration 
his manly patriotism in upholding the city 
with faith and prayer during the darkest 
and heaviest night of his country's struggle. 
But especially does his character shine in its 
brightest aspect under the light of the 
cross. 

" His earnest, pointed, and Christ-filled 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 97 

sermons ; his ardent, agonizing, faith-illumi- 
nated prayer ; his broad, noble, heaven-ex- 
panded views ; his temper, charity, works ; 
all, all have left us an example worthy of 
imitation. Who does not wish to possess 
his docile, humble, and sweet spirit ? 

" But his work is done. ; A bright and 
shining light ' has gone out in his church. 
But thanks be unto the Father of all mer- 
cies, he died in triumph, and has left a bright 
example to the Church of the power of the 
Son of God to support a soul in the passage 
of death. Several days before his depart- 
ure his mind was profoundly impressed with 
the chapter from which the text is taken. 
His life and his death are beautiful com- 
ments on that chapter, by manifesting the 
spirit of the holy Apostle, 6 For to me to 
live is Christ, and to die is gain.' I speak 
for the denomination which I represent ; our 
sympathy goes forth for the smitten flock 
and family, and to the God of all grace we 
commend them in prayer." 



ni. 

FUNERAL CEREMONIES, ETC. 

A SKETCH OF THE CEREMONIES ATTENDING THE 
BURIAL OF MR. GADSDEN. 

HPHE services over the remains of this be- 
-*- loved minister were performed at St. 
Luke's Church, of which he was pastor, on 
yesterday afternoon at five o'clock. The 
public, by their number, their deportment, 
and the solemnity of their bearing, gave 
evidence of their consciousness that a sudden 
and heavy bereavement had befallen them- 
selves and their city ; and along the streets 
through which the funeral cortege passed with 
its sacred burden, the general grief was mani- 
fested in a most striking manner, which has 
been seldom witnessed unless upon the death 
of the most conspicuous, most distinguished, 
and most revered of our citizens. The body 
was borne by the vestry and wardens into 
the edifice which he had aided in founding, 
and to the ministrations in which he had 
consecrated a great part of the most active 
period of his life, which now was draped in 

L.ifC. 



100 IX MEMORIAM. 

mourning, and was likewise thronged and 
overcrowded by a vast concourse composed 
of persons of every race, class, and denomi- 
nation in our city. Every one seemed de- 
sirous of testifying by his presence to the 
zeal, ability, and faithfulness vrith which 
this man of God had sought to perform the 
duties of life. He had ever been accessible 
to all — kind, friendly, and compassionate 
alike to rich and poor : he had ever been 
ready to take his part in every good and 
useful work, and the people desired to show 
their appreciation of the man and the Chris- 
tian. 

His clerical brethren, from every denom- 
ination, whom he had always been ready 
to aid and to cooperate with in the common 
service of their Master, were also gathered 
together on this solemn occasion. The 
presence of the children of the Sunday- 
school, who were seated around the chancel, 
gave an additional interest to the scene 
within the church. Their hearts seemed 
touched with the tender recollections of him 
who so often, so earnestly, yet always with 
pleasant manner, had taught them from that 
spot where his lifeless body now lay, and 
they made no effort to restrain their emo- 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 101 

tions whilst they looked upon his bier. The 
impressive services of the Episcopal Church 
were conducted by the Rev. Messrs. Pinck- 
ney, Prentiss, Elliott, and Howe, whilst 
several other ministers, some of whom had 
come for the purpose from their distant 
homes, were present in the chancel. 

After the ceremonies at St. Luke's, the 
body was removed to the burial ground of 
St. Philip's Church, where it was interred 
amid the chanting of hymns, in which every 
one united. Wreaths of flowers, crosses, 
and garlands were deposited by his nearest 
friends of the clergy, and by the immediate 
family of the deceased, upon the newly made 
grave, and the benediction was pronounced 
by a reverend brother. Thus terminated 
ceremonies which, from the beginning to 
the end, were peculiarly impressive, from 
the sincere affection and regard which were 
so universally entertained for him whose 
body had been placed in its last resting- 
place. This was close by the church in 
which he had been baptized, had been con- 
secrated to the service of his Maker, and had 
acted as assistant minister for five years ; it 
was within reach of the sounds of the swell- 
ing organ, and now, when the choral music 



102 IN MEMORIAM. 

and the voices of the morning and the even- 
ing hymns shall be wafted on the air, they 
shall be borne over his tomb, but will fall 
upon " the dull, cold ear of death," and will 
awake henceforward no responsive note of 
praise from the lips of him whom, when 
alive, melodious anthems and songs of 
prayer had power to stir with sacred rap- 
ture. 

As the only surviving classmate of Mr. 
Gadsden in this city, and connected with 
his church from the inception of the enter- 
prise which built it, it may be permitted us 
to state, that at the early period of his col- 
lege life he was conspicuous for his great 
reverence for religion, and his earnest and 
consistent piety ; and as an incident in his 
career, that it was his habit to have prayers, 
and to listen to, or himself to read a sermon 
in his rooms during every Sabbath evening ; 
on which occasions a few of his friends were 
invited to be present. His fellow-students, 
without exception, entertained a proiound 
respect, both for his attainments, and his 
high moral qualities. He graduated with 
distinction in a large class, and he was con- 
sidered one of the best orators among his 
then associates. We only repeat what 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 103 

others have so well expressed, when we add 
in conclusion, that his life since has been 
one of unselfish devotion to the require- 
ments of his calling ; to serve his Master, to 
convert souls, to minister to the wants, 
spiritual and temporal, of his fellow-man ; 
these were his greatest pleasures, for to such 
duties he had consecrated his time on earth. 
His life has been a toilsome one, and not 
without its trials ; but it is not surprising 
that, with aims like these, a man of so un- 
selfish a nature — gifted with talents and 
with irrepressible energy, displayed in what- 
ever concerned the welfare of the Church — 
should attain so high a rank in that in 
which he worshipped and labored, as to have 
recently received the support of a majority 
of his order for the highest, most responsi- 
ble, and most sacred gift it was in their 
power to aid in conferring. 

Mr. Gadsden belonged to a family which 
has been distinguished for its patriotism, and 
for its civic and social virtues. He also 
greatly loved the people of his native State 
and city, and he was willing at all times 
cheerfully to sacrifice his interests, his prop- 
erty, his life even, for their benefit. He 
has done this ; and we doubt not that he is 



104 IN MEMORIAM. 

now reaping those blessed and more endur- 
ing rewards which his Heavenly Father and 
Saviour has in store for a faithful servant. 
What we can do, now that he is dead, is to 
show that we appreciate the labors and the 
example derived from a review of the life of 
one who was the friend of all who needed 
the aid of a minister of God ; and more es- 
pecially we can exhibit this practically by 
perfecting the plans which we know were 
those most dear to his heart. 

F. P. P. 

copy of resolutions passed by the vestry 
of st. luke's church. 

At a special meeting of the Vestry of St. 
Luke's Church, Charleston, held on the 27th 
July, 1871, the following proceedings were 
unanimously adopted : — 

Vain would be the effort to depict the 
depth and poignancy of that affliction which 
rests upon the congregation of St. Luke's 
Church ; futile the attempt to give adequate 
expression to the emotions which swell each 
bosom, and bow each head with a grief too 
deep for utterance. 

In the prime of life ; in the active dis- 
charge of ministerial and social duties : with 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 105 

an intellect gifted, cultivated, and refined ; 
a mind stored with the attainments of the 
scholar and the theologian ; an imagination 
fervid, chaste, and captivating ; a fluency 
and felicity of expression of the highest 
order ; a heart tender, loving, and over- 
flowing with sympathy in the joys and sor- 
rows of others ; a disposition gentle, kind, 
amiable, and winning ; all consecrated to 
the glory of God, in the salvation of man ; 
all purified and sanctified by the Holy Spirit, 
and rendered meet for the Master's service. 
Such was the Christian pastor ; such the 
faithful shepherd, whom " the Lord gave, 
and " whom " the Lord hath taken away." 

Early called to preach " Jesus Christ and 
Him crucified," the last summons found him 
(in response to prayer) with armor on, still 
battling under the " banner of the cross," 
against " the world, the flesh, and the 
devil." 

The fight fought, the course finished, the 
faith kept ! His the crown, his the life- 
sought welcome : " Well done, good and 
faithful servant ; enter thou into the joy of 
thy Lord ! " 

Priceless the privileges of such a minis- 
try ; incalculable its loss ; deep the respon- 



106 IN MEMORIAM. 

sibilities which rest upon each member of 
that favored fold ! 

Feebly, yet affectionately, and in humble 
submission to the will of our Heavenly 
Father, would we record pur sense of this 
dispensation of his mysterious, yet all-wise 
providence. Therefore — 

Resolved, That in the removal of the late Rev. 
Christopher P. Gadsden from the scenes of his earthly- 
labors, to that "place prepared" in his " Father's 
house/' " to the whole company of angels, and the 
spirits of just men made perfect," the Church mili- 
tant has been deprived of one of her ablest champi- 
ons, one of her brightest ornaments, and most zealous 
heralds of the cross. 

Resolved, That to the congregation of St. Luke's 
Church, it is the severance of the tenderest earthly 
ties which can bind a devoted, zealous, and faithful 
pastor to a favored, loving, and grateful people. 

Resolved, That as emblematic of our deep bereave- 
ment, and as a token of reverence and affection for 
the memory of its late rector, St. Luke's Church be 
draped in mourning for the space of six months. 

Resolved, That the Rev. W. B. W. Howe, Assist- 
ant Bishop elect, be respectfully requested to officiate 
at St. Luke's Church, on Sunday morning next, and 
on that occasion to deliver a discourse in consonance 
with the mournful circumstances under which the 
congregation will then be assembled. 

Resolved, That to the bereaved widow and children 
of our late rector, a copy of these proceedings be 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 107 

transmitted, with the heartfelt assurance that we 
mourn with and for them, for ourselves, and for our 
children. (Monthly Record, August, 1871.) 



TO THE MEMORY OF REV. C. P. GADSDEN, 

RECTOR OF ST. LUKE'S CHURCH, CHARLESTON, 

S. C. 

" It matters little at what hour of the day 
The righteous falls asleep. To him 
Death cannot come untimely who is fit to die ! 
The 1 less of this cold world, the more of heaven ; 
The briefer life, the earlier immortality ! " 

Back to your fount of feeling, tears and sighs ! 
Nor sighs nor tears are known above the skies J 
The star-gemmed canopy of yonder world 
Resounds with joyous tones, as, wide unfurled, 
" The banner of the cross " waves high and bright 
Before the wond'ring stranger's ravished sight ; 
His rapture cannot e'er be told, 
To find his name thereon enrolled ! 

O ! 'tis a privilege to die the Christian's death ; 
To testify confiding hope with dying breath ; 
To leave for stricken, mourning hearts a balm 
To sooth the deepest grief with holy calm ; 
To place in memory's casket the blest hour 
When Faith o'ercame the tyrant's dreaded power ! 

But blessed, thrice blessed to lay life down 
And wear in heaven the pastor's crown ! 



108 IN MEMORIAM. 

To find whole hosts around him throng. 
Singing his praise who had so long 
With zeal untiring, faithfulness, and love, 
Pointed their souls to glorious realms above ; 
Who joyed in all their joys, and ever kept 
A sympathetic tear for those Who wept ! 

A Christian's death ! Who does not yearn 

A lesson from its scenes to learn V 

But O ! to hear a minister's farewell ; 

To listen to his church's funeral knell ; 

To feel assured while sad we stand 

Around his grave, he, in the land 

Of everlasting rest, is reaping now 

The rich reward of holy act and vow ; 

To think we almost catch th' Archangel's strain, 

" Soldier of the cross, well done ! Not in vain 

Hast thou in the world dwelt ! " This were to know 

The blessedness of mingled joy and woe ! 

But from these thoughts we turn : on earth are tears, 
And loneliness, and dread of future cares. 
In heaven one universal hymn of thankful praise 
Reechoes through the azure vault where cherubs raise 
Their infant notes in glad hosannas, as they see 
Him crowned, by Christ himself, with immortality ! 

And shall the upper sanctuary ring 

With joy, and we on earth no praises bring 

To Him who hath vouchsafed to us the precious 

boon 
Of this beloved friend, and mourn that all too soon 
He has been called away from church and home; 
And we, who cherished, should be left to roam 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 109 

Along life's pathway, all desolate and alone ? 

No, no ! He cannot die too soon, whose work is 

done ! 
He cannot wear too soon the diadem, 
By Christ prepared, of gold and costly gem ; 
Yes, yes, in that bright sphere it now 
Rests on his calmly placid brow ! 
O ! who would have it laid aside, 
Or wish again he had not died ? 
Back then, ye tears — back then, ye sighs ! 
From earth's heart-sorrows let thought rise, 
Soaring beyond the stars to join the throng 
Who praise Jehovah in rapturous song. 
Then let it be our aim like him to live, 
And win the crown our Saviour has to give 
To those whose faithfulness and love 
Have won a place in realms above ! 

M. T. G. 
Summer ville, S. C, 28th July, 1871. 



IV. 

SERMONS, 

BY REV. C P. GADSDEN. 



THE HOLY SPIRIT THE GUIDE TO A 

TRUE UNDERSTANDING OF THE 

SCRIPTURES. 

" Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all 
things." — 1 John ii. 20. 

TGNORANCE of God, with inability, by 
A any powers of our own, to apprehend 
Him, is a part of the curse which has over- 
taken sinful men. The gospel of Jesus 
Christ, however, assures every believing 
heart, " that the Son of God is come, and 
has given us an understanding, that we may 
know Him that is true." " God^hath spoken 
to us," by one " who is the brightness of 
his glory, and the express image of his per- 
son." But " the Light shineth in darkness, 
and the darkness comprehendeth it not." 
How ignorant were the nations, both Jew 
and Gentile, of the glory of the only be- 
gotten of the Father, " when He dwelt 
among them ! " It was not until the Holy 
Ghost descended, on the Day of Pentecost, 



112 IN MEMORIAM. 

that even the apostles had correct views of 
the person and work of their Divine Mas- 
ter. And what is evident, from the histor- 
ical record, in regard to the Word Incarnate, 
has, throughout the ages, been true of the 
written Word. It is indeed, my brethren, 
" a light shining in a dark place ; " and 
" the eyes of our understanding must be 
opened," by Divine grace, before we shall 
recognize its brilliancy, and be guided in 
the sheen of its splendor, to God. Hence 
it is that David prays, " Open Thou mine 
eyes, that I may see wondrous things out 
of thy law; " " make me to understand the 
way of thy precepts." 

The subject to which I would invite at- 
tention this morning is, " The Holy Spirit 
the Guide to a true Understanding of the 
Holy Scriptures." 

And in considering a fact so important, 
and the knowledge of which is so essential 
to the salvation of the soul, I ask you, my 
hearers, to unite with me in the prayer that 
the Divine Sanctifier may " cast his bright 
beams of light " upon us, and breathe into 
our hearts the holy influences of his grace. 

With paths of knowledge to be explored 
on all sides, the Church and the world cry 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 113 

out for an infallible guide. And there are 
those who, overlooking the presence of the 
promised Teacher, are casting themselves 
upon human helps. Some follow blindly 
the traditions of men ; and even acknowl- 
edge the blasphemous pretensions of him 
" who, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, 
showing himself that he is God." Others, 
with heedless self-will, fulfill another in- 
spired prophecy, and " speak great swelling 
words of vanity, promising liberty, while 
they themselves are the servants of corrup- 
tion." But it is neither from the uncer- 
tainty of tradition, the modern dogmas of 
the Papacy, or the self-confident speculations 
of rationalism, that aid is to be brought for 
the ignorance of man. The inspired Scrip- 
tures of the Old and New Testament are 
the only secure basis of religious belief ; and 
the Church, " although a witness and a 
keeper of Holy Writ," must, in her indi- 
vidual members, as well as in her catholic 
unity, be irradiated with the light of the 
Holy Spirit, in order to " have a right judg- 
ment in all things," and to " embrace and 
ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting 
life." 

With the prof oundest reverence we rec- 

8 



114 IN MEM0R1AM. 

ognize M the ministration of the Spirit " as a 
living power in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. 
And when, in obedience to the command of 
our Lord, we " search the Scriptures " with 
faith and prayer, w£ claim his parting 
promise to his disciples: "I will send unto 
you from the Father the Spirit of truth ; " 
" He shall testify of me ; " " when He is 
come, He will guide you into all truth." 

Now should any affirm that this testimony 
is confined to the letter of Scripture, and 
that the promise of Christ was exhausted 
in the gift of that inspiration by which 
" Holy men of God spake as they were 
moved by the Holy Ghost ; " or that it was 
intended only for the guidance of the Church, 
when speaking with " authority in matters 
of faith," and by her catholic councils, I 
turn to the epistle of " the disciple whom 
Jesus loved," and who, besides being in- 
spired to write, must, of all men, have 
known most of the mind of his Lord. I 
read here a message to the " little chil- 
dren " whom he loved " in the truth." 
He is warning them against the many " an- 
tichrists " who, in fulfillment of prophecy, 
have, " in these last times " of the world, 
" already come," " denying the Father and 



RE V. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 115 

the Son ; " and his declaration is as plain as 
this : " Ye have an unction from the Holy 
One, and ye know all things." The anoint- 
ing which ye have received of Him abideth 
in you, and ye need not that any man teach 
you: but as the same anointing teacheth 
you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, 
and* even as it hath taught you, ye shall 
abide in Hira. 

Other scriptures can 1?e brought from 
both Testaments to confirm and illustrate 
what is here asserted. I ( can show you 
prophets and priests of the Old Dispensa- 
tion, and apostles and saints of the New, on 
their knees, pleading, with one accord, the 
covenant of Jehovah for the teaching of the 
Holy Ghost. I can point to heroes and 
martyrs making this hope their confidence ; 
and to preachers of the Word sounding 
forth the free notes of the gospel trumpet, 
with this refrain : 4; Not by power, nor by 
might, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of 
Hosts." I hear the sweet music of the 
Psalmist's harp, as he thrills the chords 
with praise for the " light and the truth 
sent out to guide him." I might read to 
you dogmatic statements, like these : " No 
man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by 



116 IN MEMORIAM. 

the Holy Ghost." " The veil is upon their 
hearts; nevertheless, when they shall turn 
to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away." 
" Now the Lord^is that Spirit, and where the 
Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." " The 
Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep 
things of God." " All thy children shall be 
taught of the Lord." Or, I could show you 
examples of this teaching : such, for instance, 
as that of Lydia, " whose heart the Son 
opened that she attended unto the things 
which were spoken of Paul ; " or of Corne- 
lius and his company, of whom it is written, 
" While Peter yet spake these words, the 
Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the 
word." Or, I might call attention to the 
absolute need that there is of such inter- 
vention, in the sinner's behalf, by repeating 
the Apostle's explanation of the ignorance 
of the unconverted. " If our gospel be hid, 
it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the 
God of this world hath blinded the minds 
of them which believe not, lest the light of 
the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the im- 
age of God, should shine upon them." A 
mind which is clouded by sin, and blinded 
by Satan, the grace of the Holy Spirit only 
can "turn from darkness to light:" and 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 117 

hence the confession of divine power in the 
words, " God, who commanded the light to 
shine out of darkness, hath shined in our 
hearts, to give the light of the knowledge 
of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus 
Christ." But vast and accumulative as 
would be such an array of testimony, it 
would not be clearer than the assertion of 
St. John in the text. You have here the 
inspired declaration of a fact, which is re- 
vealed as a part of the common experience 
of God's children ; and it is pointed out as 
an essential feature of the life of faith. The 
" ye," which the Apostle employs in this 
passage, is emphatic. He appeals to Chris- 
tian consciousness, and his language is 
equally a challenge to faith, and a tender 
assurance to love. He gives a characteris- 
tic description of the " sons of God," by 
which they are set forth in opposition to the 
"many antichrists," of whom it is added, 
44 They went out from us, but they were 
not of us ; for if they had been of us, they 
would no doubt have continued with us : but 
they went out that they might be made 
manifest that they were not all of us." As 
the light of the sun divides the day from 
the night, so the Spirit of Christ separates 



118 IN MEMORIAM. 

" the children of the day " from those that 
" dwell in darkness." " As many as are 
led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons 
of God." " And if any man have not the 
Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." The 
Holy Catholic Church, " built upon the 
foundation of the apostles and prophets, 
Jesus Christ himself being the chief cor- 
ner stone," is " a habitation of God, through 
the Spirit." It is the presence of the Spirit, 
and the life and truth which, from Christ 
the Head, He imparts to redeemed sinners, 
born of Him unto God, which mark in in- 
effaceable characters of light the bounds and 
limits of that " mystical body, which is the 
blessed company of all faithful people." 
And upon this body, our text declares, there 
is " an unction from the Holy One ; " that 
is, from the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the 
true centre of unity, and fountain of bless- 
ings to all his people. The prophet Daniel 
predicted his anointing, to be the High 
Priest of his Church, under this name of 
the " Most Holy." St. Peter, in Jerusalem 
on the Day of Pentecost, proclaimed him by 
this title. An angel announced it to the 
Virgin Mary ; and devils confessed it, when, 
in anticipation of judgment, they trembled 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 119 

at the presence, on earth, of " the Son of 
God." Let us never forget, my hearers, 
that the Holy Ghost, the Sanctifier, is the 
purchase of the cross, and the royal gift 
of our glorified Redeemer, while he pleads 
for us at the right hand of the Father, 
From the High Priest of the Church, who 
has " passed within the veil," the unction 
of the Spirit " flows down to the skirts of 
his garment," " refreshing the faithful " as 
the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that 
descended upon the mountains of Zion. 

And while this unction is a consecration 
of the whole Church, and of the entire man, 
in each regenerate believer, to all the offices 
which Christ the Head gives us a por- 
tion in, when making us " kings and priests 
unto God and his Father," it here especially 
brings to view the investing of the Church 
with the prophetic office, and the securing, 
for each believing heart (in the communion 
and fellowship of Christ), that Divine teach- 
ing which is an eminent blessing of the 
covenant of grace. " Ye have an unction 
from the Holy One, and ye know all things." 
It is a fact which rests upon an inspired 
dictum; and in delivering it, the Apostle 
appeals to Christian consciousness. If any 



120 IN MEMORIAM. 

of you reject the written Word of God, we 
must have recourse to other discussions, in 
order to secure assent to our supreme au- 
thority. The evidences of Christianity must 
be examined ; and the authenticity, credi- 
bility, and inspiration of the Scriptures must 
be established, by the cumulative proof, 
which it is impossible to invalidate. We 
invite here the most thorough investigation ; 
we would urge you, with all the earnestness 
of which we are capable, to sift the matter 
to the bottom. If any of you doubt whether 
the Bible is the Word of God, I beseech 
you, as you fear God and value your souls, 
lose no time in settling the question beyond 
all peradventure. It is an awful condition 
for any man to be in, that his only hope for 
eternity is that this Book, which has, all 
through the ages, withstood so many as- 
saults of the most able and determined ad- 
versaries, and which remains to-day, in all 
the world, the one unlowered standard of 
truth and right, may, perhaps, be a he! 
But I address, to-night, those who accept 
the Bible as the Word of God. If I was 
not, my brethren, thoroughly persuaded of 
this fact, I would not dare stand in this holy 
presence. I hold the pulpit to be too awful 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 121 

a place, too much surrounded with thoughts 
of God and visions of his judgment, for any 
man to make it a stage for the display of his 
own fancies ; and to entertain sinners, for 
an hour, with curious questions and novel 
theories. If I had not Christ to lean upon, 
and the truth of God authoritatively to 
proclaim from the Record of his will, I 
would close the Book, and forsake the as- 
sembly. It would seem too dangerous a 
jest, to be speculating to blind men, in the 
dark myself, on the soul and its destiny, on 
eternal life and death, on heaven and hell. 
I thank God for the Scriptures of truth : 
with all my heart, and in deepest humility, 
I accept them as a certain and definite rule 
of faith, sufficient in their plenary inspira- 
tion, for the Church of ages ; a rule, from 
which there can be no appeal ; none here, 
because Christ himself hath told us, there 
shall be none at the day of judgment. " He 
that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my 
words, hath one that judgeth him," our 
Lord declares ; " the word that I have 
spoken, the same shall judge him in the 
last day." But with the Scriptures in my 
hand, which testify of Christ, the question 
meets me, How shall I ascertain their mean- 



122 IN MEMORIAM. 

ing ? The Book is nothing to me unless I 
am master of its thought. I shall not find 
eternal life, unless I know and obey its reve- 
lation. And here, brethren, on the author- 
ity of the Book itself, I take my position, 
that the right understanding of this inspired 
volume is not an acquirement of unaided 
human nature, but a gift of grace. The 
knowledge of " the truth as it is in Jesus," 
here revealed, is only to be obtained from 
Him who hath disclosed it. The Word of 
the Spirit must be interpreted to our minds 
and hearts by the Spirit. The Holy Ghost, 
promised by God for this purpose, must 
64 take of the things of Christ," which are 
written in this Book, and show them unto 
us. The fact is, my friends, that the com- 
prehension of Scripture, and the saving 
knowledge of Him to whom it testifies as 
our God and Saviour Jesus Christ, is not 
simply an intellectual result. It is a moral 
act. It does not depend only upon mental 
power, and study, and learning, and criti- 
cism. These are indeed, to a certain ex- 
tent, necessary concomitants ; and are by 
no means to be disregarded. Men must ex- 
ercise intelligence, and employ diligence 
here, as they would in any department of 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 123 

knowledge. But religion is not a science, 
to be worked out to our own apprehensions 
by methods of induction and discovery. It 
is an objective revelation of fact and truth, 
authoritatively set before us by God ; and 
it must meet with a welcome from our 
moral nature. It must be received with 
the meekness of faith, and the child-like 
docility of love. To accept the divine tes- 
timony concerning God and his Christ, sin 
and redemption, eternal death and ever- 
lasting life, is a spiritual process. It de- 
pends in a very great degree upon the 
moral state of the soul. " If any man," 
saith our Lord, " will do my will, he shall 
know of the doctrine." " With the heart," 
writes St. Paul, " man believeth unto right- 
eousness, and with the mouth confession is 
made unto salvation." 

" We stand therefore, my brethren, in 
regard to the doctrine of Christianity, in a 
very different position from that which we 
occupy towards intellectual philosophy or 
physical science. In these, truth is to be 
pursued and brought forth from her hiding 
places, according to the natural processes of 
the understanding, by induction, and with 
the aid of observation and experiment. 



124 IN ME MORI AM. 

The moral nature of man has but a sub- 
ordinate relation to the investigation. But 
this is the peculiar domain of the gospel ; 
and as Christianity is the revelation of a 
special economy of redemption, it deals pre- 
eminently with supernatural subjects. It 
rests its claims to attention, indeed, upon 
facts which are supported by human testi- 
mony ; and appeals for its credentials, to 
matters of which the reason of man is able 
to take cognizance. It freely submits its 
external evidence to the closest scrutiny. 
It brings forward proof, so strong that no 
facts in the history of man are so well 
authenticated. It demands, from the reason 
of every man who has intellect sufficient to 
make him provident of his personal safety, 
a prompt and earnest investigation of its 
claims. And they are worse than mad, 
who pass it by (as they travel to eternity), 
with indifference, or a sneer. But when 
any one has, upon a thorough weighing of 
its abundant evidence, accepted it as from 
God, there can be no ground left for ques- 
tioning any of its statements. A message 
from God must come with authority; and 
the will of our Maker, proclaimed by his 
Eternal Son, demands, on our part, sub- 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 125 

mission. When, moreover, it appears that, 
by reason of a deflection on our part from 
rectitude, we are in moral antagonism to 
holiness, we may well feel diffidence in mak- 
ing our thoughts the measure of the Divine 
counsels. " My thoughts are not your 
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, 
saith the Lord ; for as the heavens are higher 
than the earth, so are my ways higher than 
your ways, and my thoughts than your 
thoughts." To the Roman governor who 
asked, with the indifference of skepticism, 
" What is Truth ? " and waited not for an 
answer, our Lord affirmed, " My kingdom 
is not of this world." It is an empire very 
different from the material power of Eome, 
or the intellectual supremacy of Athens. 
It is a moral power, a spiritual economy, 
set up indeed visibly in the earth, in an 
organized Church, but exercising its highest 
glory as "the kingdom of heaven within 
us ; " " purifying the heart through faith," 
and " bringing every thought into captivity 
to the obedience of Christ." " Therefore," 
saith St. Paul, " if any man be in Christ, 
he is a new creature ; old things are passed 
away, behold, all things are become new." 
When Nicodemus, the Pharisee, addressed 



126 IN MEM0R1AM. 

himself to Jesus, as " a teacher come from 
God," and would inquire what was the 
instruction that He brought, our Lord met 
him at the threshold with the declaration, 
" Verily, verily I say unto you, Except a 
man be born again, he cannot see the king- 
dom of God." Renewal of the heart by the 
Holy Ghost, the Master himself pronounces 
the first step in the school of Christ ; and 
the same truth He impresses afterwards 
upon the Jews : " It is written in the proph- 
ets, And they shall be all taught of God." 
" Every man therefore that hath heard and 
hath learned of the Father, cometh unto 
me. 

How emphatically, then, does Jesus con- 
firm the word of his servant, when He 
makes prominent, both at the outset and 
the close of his ministry on earth, the neces- 
sity of " the unction from the Holy One," 
if we would " know all things." Humility 
and reverence are indeed qualities essential 
to proficiency hi any department, even of 
human knowledge. A consciousness of 
ignorance, and of constant liability to error, 
with a profound loyalty to truth, are nec- 
essary safeguards against delusion ; where 
reason, in her legitimate sphere, is able to 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 127 

sweep, with keen glance, the field of vision, 
and make discoveries for herself. But when 
from this vestibule of earth we pass into the 
temple of the Lord ; to bow at the very 
shrine of truth, in the blaze of that glory 
before which the angels veil their faces, men 
should surely be penetrated with the truest 
lowliness. Standing on holy ground, and 
permitted, through the veil of Christ's flesh, 
to gaze into the very countenance of God 
(though it flash not with anger, or, like 
consuming fire, destroy us with its holiness, 
but beam upon us, in the tempered beauty 
of seK-sacrificing love), we should "put 
our shoes from off our feet ; " and rejoice that 
we are permitted to take hold of " God's 
strength," and be instructed by his Holy 
Spirit. In such presence, who would be 
self-confident, or filled with his own pride ? 
Who would not rather exclaim, with the 
humbled man of Uz, " That which I see 
not, teach Thou me." 

It is because moral conformity to God 
in some degree, is necessary for our under- 
standing his ways, and the Holy Ghogt is 
the only renewer of man's corrupt nature, 
after the image of God, that his grace is 
essential for the reception, on the part of 



128 IN MEMORIAM. 

any man, of " the faith once delivered to 
the saints." He does not, because He has 
completed the canon of Scripture as the 
only rule of faith, and enriched the Church, 
as " the pillar and ground of the truth," 
with the record of eternal life, withdraw 
Hiruself from " the true tabernacle," and 
leave the children of the covenant to their 
own devices. But in fulfillment of the part- 
ing promise of the Redeemer (when as our 
High Priest he passed within the veil), as 
his vicar, and the representative of his lo- 
cally withdrawn humanity, " he abides " 
with his Church ; applying Christ to be- 
lieving hearts, in all the ordinances of 
grace ; giving the living ministry its only 
power, and the sacraments their efficacy ; 
and the Word its strength. He prepares 
the hearts of men, and teaches them won- 
drous things out of God's law. He reveals 
to them, in the light of the commandment, 
their ruined state, and from the central 
cross of Calvary, irradiates the person and 
work of the Incarnate Son of God, with 
such grace and glory, that men are " drawn 
to Him with cords of love," and embrace 
and adore Him as their Saviour and their 
Lord. It is the assurance of the presence 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 129 

of this Divine Spirit, as the Teacher of those 
who, by his grace, He is " making meet " 
for glory, that gives reality and power to a 
prayer, like that of St. Paul for the Ephe- 
sians : " That the God of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto 
you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in 
the knowledge of Him : the eyes of your 
understanding being enlightened ; that ye 
may know what is the hope of his calling, 
and what the riches of the glory of his in- 
heritance in the saints, and what is the ex- 
ceeding greatness of his power to us- ward 
who believe." That petitions like these 
will be fulfilled, is the sure reliance of God's 
children. On their knees, before the mercy- 
seat, with the eye of faith upon " the Holy 
One " enthroned at God's right hand, and 
with the " lively oracles " of truth inter- 
preted to them by the Spirit, they receive 
light from its source, and are " made wise 
unto salvation." In the self-reliance of 
worldly wisdom, other men doubt, and 
speculate, and cavil ; it is the blessing of 
God's chosen, that unto them " it is given 
to believe." Guided by the eye of One 
who hath loved them unto death, they are 
led " into green pastures and beside still 



130 IN MEM OR] AM, 

waters." There are those who laugh at 
their credulity, and mock their humble 
hope. But, leaning on the Saviour, and 
assured by his tenderness, they would not 
leave the sheltered spot in which they dwell 
with Him, for the dangerous adventure of 
the godless ; or the bold path which, with 
delusive promise of discovery, tempts the 
footsteps of the self-confident. Their psalm 
of assurance and hope is that of the sweet 
singer of Israel : " Thou shalt guide me 
with thy counsel, and afterward receive 
me to glory." My brethren, permit me to 
impress upon you the necessity and the 
blessedness of the teaching of the Holy 
Ghost. In all your study of Scripture, seek 
before all else the " unction from the Holy 
One," that ye may " know all things." 
Let each perusal of the Word of God be an 
act of devotion. Realize the special pres- 
ence of the Almighty. Look up to the 
throne girt with the cherubim, and blazing 
with effulgent glory ; remember your igno- 
rance, and note the moral darkness with 
which you are surrounded, in this world of 
sin. Venture not to decide beforehand 
what you would judge proper in a revelation. 
Trust not implicitly to a reason, clouded by 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 131 

passion and enfeebled by sin ; bear in mind 
that the judgment may be warped by prej- 
udice, and that " conscience " herself " is 
denied " by transgression. Search the Scrip- 
tures on your knees, with faith in the prom- 
ise of God, to " give his Holy Spirit to those 
who ask," and with fervent prayer for his 
presence and guidance. 

" He openeth our eyes to see 
(Eyes that our pride of heart hath sealed) 
The sweetness of Life's Heavenly Tree, — 
The blind are healed ! " 



CHRIST EECEIYETH SINNERS. 

" This man receiveth sinners." — St. Luke xv. 2. 

This is the objection of the Pharisees and 
Scribes against Jesus Christ. It has been 
echoed by the self-righteous in all ages. 
Yet it is the hope of the world, and the 
glory of the Church. If it were not a fact, 
Christianity would be no religion for a sin- 
ful race. If it were not inscribed upon the 
banner of the cross, the kingdom of grace 
would gain no victory among men. It is 
" a Man," around whom, as the centre of 
their strength, believers press. We are at- 
tracted by his true humanity ; we are won 
by his tender brotherhood. But when we 
look upon Him, what a man He is ! How 
different from all other men ! How unique 
his life ! how unparalleled his history ! how 
pure his character ! how grand his self- 
sacrifice ! how powerful his speech ! For 
eighteen hundred years the world has gazed 
upon Him with wonder and with awe. En- 
emies have assailed Him. Friends have be- 
trayed Him. The Church has too often 
brought disgrace upon Him. The world 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 133 

has been ready with reproach. Yet " never 
man spake like this man." Never has any- 
one lived and died as He did. None occupy 
the same position ; no one attracts the same 
regard. Whether friend or foe call upon 
us to " Behold the Man," we know, at once 
and instinctively, who is meant. But how 
shall we draw near to Him ? He is so pure, 
so far removed from us by the lofty excel- 
lence of his character, and the singular holi- 
ness of his words. Evil is abashed in his 
presence ; sin is consumed in the splendor 
of his goodness. Shall we be content to 
gaze upon Him, as we would upon some dis- 
tant star that gems the brow of midnight, 
and whose cold beauty can have but little 
influence upon our life? It is something 
more than this that man wants in a religion. 
It is the necessity of his heart. It must be 
the informing principle of his nature. Wor- 
ship must be a passion elevated and refined 
into a life. Contrast Christianity, in its 
effects, with the religions of the heathen 
world. They were something apart, super- 
added to the common round of life. They 
were the ornament of existence, not its warp. 
But this faith in Christ, which has irra- 
diated the world with hope, is a factor in 



134 IN MEMORIAM. 

the being of those who are possessed of it. 
It shapes their character and directs their 
walk. Where will you lay your finger upon 
the power which makes the religion of the 
cross, the controller of life ? How does 
Jesus chain to Himself the hearts of his 
people ? 

Look at the scene which introduces our 
text. It is related by the Evangelist in a 
sentence : but it is like one of those moment- 
ary flashes of light upon the electro-plate, 
which fixes the picture. " Then drew near 
unto Him all the publicans and sinners for 
to hear Him. 5 ' 

What a painting is this ! All around the 
edges are the deep, dark colors of evil. 
Sin, in its horrid forms, is shedding upon 
the canvas the hue of death. The world, 
stripped of its disguises, is here concentrated 
in its corruption. All that is base and vile 
and degrading is united to make a vast cir- 
cumference of gloom. And in the centre 
He stands, who is " the Light of the world,'* 
yea, whose Divine beauty is " the light " 
in "the midst of heaven." Every color of 
truth and holiness, like the rainbow tints of 
the prism, unite in Him to give forth the 
most dazzling brilliance. The contrast is 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 135 

sublime. The separation between good and 
ill is infinite. Any mixture is impossible ; 
any overshadowing, with the cloud of wick- 
edness, this pure centre of goodness, is be- 
yond imagination. Not in the day of trial, 
and before the throne of the Judge, blazing 
with glory, and surrounded by the angel 
host, will the distinction be more absolute 
between right and wrong. You see Jesus 
in the perfection of his nature. You see 
sinners in the guilt and depravity of their 
ruin. And yet you observe no repulsion. 
On the contrary, He " who is the brightness 
of his Father's glory " is " drawing all men 
unto Him ; " that is, all who know and feel 
themselves to be sinners : only the self-right- 
eous, who are blind to their demerit, are not 
attracted by his grace. " The Pharisees 
and scribes murmured, saying, This man 
receiveth sinners." How, I ask, can you 
explain this fact ? Why is Divine Purity 
the loadstone to draw to it evil, that it may 
recreate it in its own beautiful likeness ? 
Why is the only " Holy One " that has 
ever stood in the circle of our humanity, the 
force that lifts it to heaven, through the en- 
ergy which binds its disordered members to 
Himself ? I am searching now for the idea 



136 IN MEMORIAM. 

of Christianity ; the central truth which 
constitutes its power ; and, brethren, I find 
the answer to my inquiry in the objection 
of the adversary, " This man receiyeth sin- 
ners." There you have the formula of our 
religion ; with this declaration, it will go 
forth to conquer and subdue. The Man, 
whose glory we proclaim, is indeed the most 
wonderful that has appeared in the world. 
In vain do you search history for his peer. 
The mind of man hath never dared to con- 
ceive such a person. Romance has no such 
hero. Poetry has never risen to such an 
ideal. Who can fail to admire ? But ad- 
miration secures not the power we claim for 
our faith. It is sympathy, fellowship, com- 
munion, that the gospel offers. It presents 
not merely a model, but a Saviour. The 
Man whom, as one with God, we adore, 
offers Himself to our love ; invites us to his 
arms ; calls upon us to be his friends. His 
message to a lost world is, that He " receiv- 
eth sinners." 

Is it not the sinner's alienation from God 
which is his curse ? " Without God in the 
world," he is necessarily " without hope ; " 
yea, he is without everything that is ade- 
quate to make him useful. Reconciliation 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 137 

between God and man is the only idea that 
offers happiness. Light only can dispel 
darkness. Goodness alone can overthrow 
evil. Has not God, in the person of his Son 
Jesus Christ, undertaken this work ? Has 
not the cross, with its atoning victim, the 
substitute for the guilty child of Adam, ac- 
complished it in behalf of all who will come 
unto Him by faith ? " In Him we have re- 
demption through his blood, even the for- 
giveness of sins, according to the riches of 
his grace." And now, the music of heaven 
is breathed through this world of sin, and 
the note which thrills the heart, and at- 
tracts dead sinners to life and salvation, is, 
" This man receiveth sinners." 

If we feel that we are sinners — and to 
convince us of this is the first work of the 
Holy Ghost when He would quicken us in 
Christ Jesus — how shall we realize our 
banishment from God, our condemnation to 
eternal wrath, our subjection to corruption 
and death ! The sense of sin, how it crushes 
us with the weight of guilt, the load of God's 
displeasure, the fearful " looking for of judg- 
ment \ " The working of corruption, how it 
fills us with sorrow and darkness ! what 
bitterness it diffuses through our nature ! 



188 IN MEM OR I AM. 

what slaves to lust it makes us ! " 0, 
wretched man," we are ready to cry, " who 
shall deliver me ? " We search in vain, 
within and around us, for strength or rescue. 
" Led captive by Satan at his will," when 
the commandment comes, " sin revives, and 
we die." The one word that the heart of 
the convicted sinner longs to hear is Salva- 
tion. Is there any help, any hope? "A 
man," says the prophet, " shall be a hiding- 
place." In Christ we see the Man alone suf- 
ficient for a refuge. If we can only know 
that He will aid us, that He will not reject 
our plea, that He will consider our misery ! 
How precious, then, the word of the Scrip- 
ture, " This is a faithful saying, and worthy 
of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came 
into the world to save sinners," even " the 
chief." How encouraging to hear enemies 
objecting to Him, that He " receiveth sin- 
ners." How fully assuring his own promise, 
" Him that cometh unto me I will in no 
wise cast out." 

My dear fellow-sinners, I do not stand 
here to unfold to you a philosophy. It is 
no part of my message to acquaint you with 
science, or instruct in earthly wisdom. It 
is not morals alone, that I am ordered to 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 139 

enforce and expound. I have no word to 
utter of politics and wordly rule : learning 
and eloquence, even if they should be pos- 
sessed by the preacher, must be altogether 
subsidiary ; everything must give way before 
the one great duty of an ambassador of 
Christ, which is to point you to Him, and 
assure you that " He is able save unto the 
uttermost all who come unto God by Him." 
If you are a sinner, and know it, I have a 
message to your soul. " This man receiv- 
eth sinners." He receives them at once, 
fully to his love, gives them salvation, re- 
stores them to God, and welcomes them to 
heaven. O, had I ten thousand tongues, 
this would be the invitation which I would 
employ them all in uttering, the echo of the 
voice of Christ himself, " Come unto me, 
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I 
will give you rest." 

(1.) He receives sinners freely. He does 
not require you to bring anything whatever 
to purchase his favor. Just bring your 
poor, naked, guilty, polluted soul, with all 
its vileness and all its weakness. He has 
paid the penalty of its transgression, He has 
earned for it by his obedience an eternal 
reward. It is no bargain with you that He 



140 IN MEMORIAM. 

makes. His covenant has been entered into 
with the Father, and it secures "all who 
come unto God by Him." You are not 
first to repent, and then come — not first to 
amend your fife, and then seek the Saviour : 
this is the self-deception of the Pharisee ; 
it is the lie of Satan ; it is the device of a 
proud and unsubdued heart. Christ is 
exalted to " give repentance." We are 
" created in Him unto good works." " It 
is given unto us to believe " in Him ; and 
He alone can " increase our faith." Come 
then, with nothing in your hand, but with 
the empty palm extended to touch the hem 
of his garment, to grasp his cross, to seize, 
as you cry to Him for mercy, his proffered 
hand. " He is able to save," for He has 
" purchased us with his blood," and for us 
fulfilled the law. He is willing to save, for 
He " loved us, and gave Himself for us." 
Come to Him, as Matthew from the receipt 
of custom ; as Peter, amid the waves of the 
sea ; as the leper, who asked to be made 
clean ; as the thief on the cross, who begged 
to be remembered in the kingdom. 

(2.) Christ receives sinners at once. He 
will not put them off to the hour of death, 
or the day of judgment, or to some uncer- 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 141 

tain future. As soon as you come, He will 
meet you. If He turn away his face, or 
seem not to hear, it is only that He may 
try and strengthen your faith. Christ's 
^salvation is a present one. " While we are 
yet speaking He will hear." His answers 
to beseeching hearts are, " This day is sal- 
vation come to this house." " Thy faith 
hath saved thee, go in peace." " To-day 
shalt thou be with me in Paradise." De- 
lays are on the part of sinners, who " will 
not come," do not believe, ask not, and re- 
ceive not. Christ " waiteth to be gra- 
cious." He says, " I will, be thou whole." 
" If thou canst believe, all things are possi- 
ble to him that belie veth." 

(3.) Christ receives sinners with a loving 
welcome. The same readiness that the 
Pharisees faulted in the text belongs to 
Him now. " He is the same yesterday, to- 
day, and forever." Has He not come " to 
seek and to save that which was lost," and 
will He not take pleasure in his work? 
" Behold," He says, " I stand at the door 
and knock : if any man hear my voice and 
open the door, I will come in to him, and 
will sup with him, and he with me." O, 
what a welcome is this to the soul that 



142 IN MEM OBI AM. 

trustetli iii Hini. He stretches forth the 
golden sceptre, and bids us live. " The 
Lord thy God," saith the prophet, " in the 
midst of thee is mighty ; He will save, He 
will rejoice over thee with joy ; He will rest 
in his love ; He will joy over thee with sing- 
ing." 

(4.) Christ receives sinners to a full sal- 
vation. This is the glory and strength of 
the gospel. If sinners were only received to 
be instructed, or have an example set them, 
or even to be pardoned, and then sent back 
to keep themselves in the favor of God, and 
make their way to heaven in their own 
power : however great the condescension, it 
would not avail to our deliverance. If the 
truth were taught us, we should only the 
more deeply be convinced of sin. The 
brightness of Christ's example, if this were 
all that was revealed to us, would only cause 
us to despair. In the effulgence of his 
glory, we could only cry, " My leanness, 
my leanness ; " and the height of the prize 
would make it beyond our reach. And if 
once forgiven, and then turned over to our 
own devices, how soon would we be hope- 
lessly defiled with transgression, as each 
step carried us farther from Christ. But, 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 143 

brethren, Christ does not "receive sinners," 
merely to mock them and leave them more 
desperate in their course of evil. He calls 
them to Him to bestow upon them life ; 
He saves them fully, by uniting them 
through faith to Himself. They are ac- 
cepted, pardoned, quickened, preserved. 
The grace of forgiveness is accompanied 
with the grace of renewal. He covers us 
with his righteousness, and at the same 
time new creates us by his Spirit. He 
brings us " near " to God, and then gives 
the power to " walk with God." He com- 
municates to us the Holy Ghost, and " makes 
us partakers of the Divine nature." Hav- 
ing " begotten us again to a lively hope," 
and " reserved in heaven for us an inherit- 
ance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that 
fadeth not away," we are " kept by the 
power of God, through faith, unto salvation, 
ready to be«revealed in the last time." He 
" will not forsake the work of his own hand ; " 
He will not leave us to stumble in darkness, 
and be lost again in the night of sin ; but 
He will " beautify the meek with salvation, 
and establish his word unto his chosen." 

(5.) Christ receives sinners to his com- 
munion. The Pharisees complained that 



144 IN MEMORIAM. 

He " ate with" sinners. This was in the 
greatness of his condescension, and his readi- 
ness to aid and bless them. He came near 
to them in love, and held the most familiar 
converse with them. He was not ashamed 
of their company, and shrank not from their 
corruption hi order that He might heal them. 
And how fully is this realized by those 
whom He receives to Himself, and presents 
as righteous before his Father. He names 
them " friends." He is " not ashamed to 
call them brethren." He abides with them 
forever ; receives them into his kingdom ; 
gives them a new name as his children ; 
places them around his table : feeds them 
with Himself, the bread that came down 
from heaven ; nourishes them unto eternal 
life ; and by his indwelling Spirit, and with 
his Holy Word and ordinances, maintains a 
close and loving fellowship with them, as the 
" members of his body." Jesus said, " If a 
man love me, he will keep my words, and my 
Father will love him, and we will come unto 
him, and make our abode with him." 
" Truly," saith the disciple, who lay on his 
breast, " our fellowship is with the Father, 
and with his Son Jesus Christ." 

Such, brethren, is our gospel ; an invita- 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 145 

tion to the " man " who " receiveth sin- 
ners." Others will condemn sinners, or 
join with them in transgression, or punish 
their crimes, or uphold them in their guilt. 
But this Man " loved them and gave Him- 
self for them ; " He shed his blood for their 
salvation ; and if they will but come to Him 
in faith, He will accept them fully, pardon 
them at once, give them a welcome, be- 
stow full salvation, and abide with them 
in affectionate communion. Have you come 
to Him ? and have you not found Him true ? 
Will you come to Him ? He will receive 
you graciously, and make you the monu- 
ment of his mercy and loving-kindness, 
10 



THE GROUND OF THE BELIEVER'S AC- 
CEPTANCE. 

" Accepted in the Beloved." — Ephesians i. 6. 

So does the Apostle, in a brief but expres- 
sive sentence, describe the blessedness of 
" the faithful in Christ Jesus." No higher 
privilege, my brethren, no greater distinc- 
tion, is enjoyed by any of the sons of men. 
It is the charter of salvation, which sover- 
eign grace places in the hand of faith. It 
is the assurance of the believing sinner, as 
in trusting confidence he beholds "the 
Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of 
the world," and is taught by the Spirit of 
Holiness, from the Word of Truth, " how 
God hath made Him to be sin for us, who 
knew no sin, that we might be made the 
righteousness of God in Him." It is the 
conveyance to " the new creature in Christ 
Jesus " of all the blessings of the covenant 
of grace, culminating in the eternal inherit- 
ance of " the purchased possession," " unto 
the praise of God's glory." Let us examine 
this miniature likeness of a believer, and we 
shall find how beautifully the Holy Spirit 
has delineated the child of grace. 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 147 

First, There is, of necessity, brought into 
view the dark background of his unregen- 
erate and unbelieving state. There was 
for him then — there is for every uncon- 
verted child of Adam — no acceptance with 
God. " By nature," saith the Apostle, 
" we were all children of wrath." " By 
one man sin entered into the world, and 
death by sin ; and so death passed upon all 
men, for that all have sinned." However 
man may dispute his guilt, he cannot deny 
his mortality ; and " death is the wages of 
sin ; " wherever it is found, it bears witness 
of transgression. The only conclusion to be 
drawn from the fearful spectacle of death, 
universally triumphant over man, is that of 
the Inspired Word, " All have sinned, and 
come short of the glory of God ; " and the 
God with whom we have to do, "is of purer 
eyes than to behold iniquity, and cannot 
look upon sin." There can therefore be no 
acceptance for any member of an univer- 
sally guilty race. " By the offense of one, 
judgment came upon all men to condemna- 
tion." And even had it not been so, and 
were each individual, at his birth, freed from 
the condemnation of original transgression, 
where could be found, in any generation, the 



148 IN MEMORIAM. 

single man who could render himself accept- 
able to God ? Consider who God is, holy, 
just, and true, knowing all things ; " search- 
ing the heart, and trying the reins : " and 
then look at man, in his corruption and weak- 
ness, his blindness and ignorance, his heed- 
lessness and perversity, and remember that, 
for him to be acceptable, there must be no 
flaw in obedience, no single stain of evil, no 
defect of motive or conduct, thought or deed, 
through all the extent and in every moment 
of his whole life. Nothing short of absolute 
perfection can be acceptable to God. My 
brethren, it surely does not require argu- 
ment to convince you, that if the question 
is as to acceptance with God, by the per- 
fection of your own righteousness, not one 
of you can stand. Will you confess no evil ? 
admit no error ? acknowledge no sin ? 
Under the just judgment of the law, " Who- 
soever offendeth in one point is guilty of 
all," and it is the essential characteristic of a 
holy God, that He " will by no means clear 
the guilty." If men would consider the 
matter without partiality, aiid without some 
vague and unfounded hopes of mercy in an 
administration of pure and exact rectitude, 
they would be forced to acknowledge that, 






REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 149 

as a subject of God and under the law, man 
cannot by any work and performance of his 
own " be accepted." To be taught this by 
the Holy Spirit, under the clear shining of 
the inspired commandment, is the first tri- 
umph of grace in the soul. " I was alive 
without the law once," writes St, Paul, " but 
when the commandment came, sin revived 
and I died." And the regenerate believer 
never realizes acceptance in the Beloved, 
without deep convictions of his natural 
alienation from God. The brightness of 
his hope in Christ casts deeper the shadow 
of his bondage under the law ; and his near- 
ness to God, as he shelters beneath the 
cross, makes him more than ever conscious 
how before conversion he was " afar off," 
by original and actual transgression. 

Second. But it is a redemption that the 
gospel of the Son of God proclaims ; and it 
" declares his righteousness ; that God might 
be just, and the justifier of him which believ- 
eth in Jesus." The acceptance of the sinner 
is the great end secured, " to the praise of 
the glory of his grace." Upon what eternal 
principles of holiness and truth this is ef- 
fected, is what I shall presently ask you to 
consider ; but first I desire to impress you 



150 IN MEMORIAM. 

with the full significance of the word here 
employed by the Apostle to express the 
restored condition of the ransomed believer. 
" Accepted." This, while it necessarily in- 
cludes forgiveness, has -a much wider mean- 
ing. A criminal, convicted at the bar of 
justice, may be pardoned by the clemency 
of his sovereign, and released from the 
death penalty of his offense : but this only 
delivers him from punishment. It does not 
introduce him to the favor, or obtain for 
him the affection, of the king. It confers 
no character of positive righteousness. It 
makes him in no degree the object of re- 
ward, or the proper claimant of further ben- 
efactions. But when acceptance is spoken 
of, something of positive good is implied. 
Some performance is had regard to, which 
has been satisfactorily accomplished ; some 
quality inheres in the person or character, 
which secures approbation. In the sinner's 
being accepted with God, more is meant, 
therefore, than that his guilt is canceled, and 
his condemnation removed. Restoration to 
favor, participation in love, intercourse, re- 
ward are implied ; obedience rendered, and 
services commended, are included. There 
is not only release from imprisonment, but 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 151 

the welcome lionie. St. Paul, in connection 
with our text, speaks of those who are " ac- 
cepted," as " made nigh by the blood of 
Christ ; " " raised up together with Him ; " 
u made to sit in heavenly places in Christ 
Jesus ; " and " blessed with all spiritual bless- 
ings." The word " accepted" has, bound 
up in it, all the grace of the sinner's resto- 
ration to Divine favor, and adoption into 
" the glorious liberty of the children of God." 
" Righteousness is imputed to him; " such 
righteousness, so perfect and absolute, as 
God delights in. Eternal love pours its 
sunshine of joy and tenderness upon him ; 
rewards of obedience are apportioned to 
him ; blessings of life and salvation surround 
him ; there are no mountains of sin, no 
clouds of wrath, between God and his soul ; 
the All Holy opens his heart, and graciously 
welcomes him to communion and fellow- 
ship. 

My dear hearers, I want you to take this 
word " accepted " into your hearts. I would 
have your faith grasp it, in its full and won- 
derful meaning. As you he at the foot of 
the cross, and look up trustingly to the Sav- 
iour who hung thereupon for your salvation, 
I would that you should repeat it over, with 



152 IN 3IEM0R1A3L 

gratitude and joy, weighing all its fullness, 
and drawing out, in prayer and confidence, 
the sweetness of its hope. If you do be- 
lieve in the Son of God, it is all yours. If 
you " have the Son, 2 ' you " have " this 
" life." You are not only forgiven, but you 
are brought very near to God, in the most 
endeared relation. " He is your shield, 
and your exceeding great reward/' I am 
afraid, my brethren, that as the unconverted 
world understand nothing of being " ac- 
cepted " with God, because they would dare 
attempt to purchase his favor with their 
own wretched deeds of unrighteousness ; so 
even those who " have a good hope through 
grace " do not, because of remaining unbe- 
lief, always enjoy the comfort of assured ac- 
ceptance ; their trust is wavering, and their 
joy is uncertain. Some scarcely venture to 
hope ; others are shaken by varying frames ; 
few of us always realize what a present 
and eternal blessing it is to be " aeeejrted ; " 
perfectly restored to God's favor, and fully 
endowed with the glory of his inheritance. 
Do you know what it is to be " saved by 
grace " ? saved now ? already delivered ? 
Can you, though deeply conscious of sin, 
look up by faith in the spirit of adoption, 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 153 

to God upon his throne of glory, and say, 
11 My Father : and heaven, my home " ? 

This is not presumption, as the unbeliev- 
ing world calls it ; it would be worse than 
that, if the acceptance was on account of 
anything in or about ourselves ; it would 
in that case be the insulting boldness of 
unsubdued rebels, the too daring intrusion 
of the unreconciled. But it is the author- 
ized language of God's children, when it- 
is spoken from the " broken and contrite 
heart," with the gaze upon Christ, and the 
arms of faith clinging to his cross. Every 
guilty soul, that has been brought home to 
God, is, as our text declares, " accepted in 
the Beloved." 

Third. And this is what I wish lastly to 
dwell upon, that you may see how, in " the 
riches of his grace," God hath " abounded 
towards us in all wisdom and prudence." 
If you would understand the ground of the 
sinner's acceptance, go and stand before the 
cross. See the Holy One, "by wicked 
hands crucified and slain." Consider his 
person ; " God manifest in the flesh ; " the 
co-equal Son of the Father, and his hu- 
manity undefiled. Review his life, and 
search out, if you can, a single flaw in his 



154 IN MEM0R1AM. 

obedience. God hath declared from heaven 
that " in Him He is well pleased/' Him- 
self confessed that it " behooved Him to ful- 
fill all righteousness ; " and men, with the 
voice of his judge and his executioner, have 
pronounced Him " without fault,'' and " a 
righteous man." And yet upon the tree 
of shame He is " accursed," and suffers and 
dies. " It pleased the Lord to bruise Him ; 
He hath put Him to grief." The decree 
went forth, * ; Awake, O sword, against my 
shepherd, and against the man that is my 
fellow, saith the Lord of hosts." And why 
this Divine smiting of Innocence ? this in- 
flicting of the death penalty upon the Just ? 
The answer is given by the prophet, and it 
is the only satisfactory explanation of the 
facts. " He was wounded for our trans- 
gressions, He was bruised for our iniquities : 
the chastisement of our peace was upon Him ; 
and with his stripes we are healed." " The 
Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us 
all." " Thou shalt make his soul an offer- 
ing for sin." To which add the declara- 
tion of the Apostle, " Christ Jesus, whom 
God hath set forth to be a propitiation, 
through faith in his blood, to declare his 
righteousness for the remission of sins that 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 155 

are past." " For, as by one man's disobe- 
dience many were made sinners ; so by the 
obedience of one, shall many be made 
righteous." To quote the many passages 
in which Jesus Christ is declared to be " the 
Lord our righteousness," " by whom also 
we have received the atonement," would be 
to transcribe a very large part of the Scrip- 
tures ; for this is indeed the burden of their 
teaching. Man is stripped of all pretension 
to righteousness, and shown in the nakedness 
of his guilt, and the helpless defilement of 
his corruption. It is emphatically declared 
that " by the deeds of the law there shall no 
flesh be justified ; " and then is held forth 
the glorious gospel, " even the righteousness 
of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, 
unto all and upon all them that believe." 

As Noah entered into the ark to be saved 
from the flood ; as the manslayer fled into 
the city of refuge, to be delivered from the 
avenger ; so there is for the sinner deliver- 
ance from the flood of Divine wrath, and 
rescue from the avenging sword of the law, 
only " in the Beloved." Christ is the true 
ark, and the abiding city of refuge. To 
Him, by faith, must we flee, convinced of 
sin, conscious of ruin, oppressed with cor- 



156 IN MEM0R1AM. 

ruption. Into Him, as " the second Adam, 
the Lord from heaven," must we enter, by 
a personal and appropriating trust ; we 
must be engrafted into Him by the sover- 
eign grace of the Holy Ghost, through a 
new birth from above ; not " of water " 
only, or sacramentally, in outward baptism, 
but " of the Spirit," being vitally united to 
Him as our Living Head, and made one 
with Him in " his mystical body, which is 
the blessed company of all faithful people." 
Then, brethren, as our Great Head stands 
face to face with God in heaven, in our na- 
ture presenting the work which He hath 
performed, and the sacrifice of Himself, 
which He hath offered "once for all," in 
behalf of his people, God looks upon Him 
with acceptance, declares his work perfect, 
his atonement sufficient, and his person un- 
speakably beloved ; and in Him and through 
Him He looks upon every sinner united to 
Him by faith ; and such they are in his 
sight, as is his well-beloved Son himself. 
This, my hearers, is the glorious and eter- 
nal hope of every believing child of grace. 
If "the Beloved" of the Father is "ac- 
cepted " before Him ; if He, filled with un- 
utterable affection for his only begotten, 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 157 

" raised Him from the dead and set Him 
at his own right hand, in the heavenly 
places ; far above all principality, and 
power, and might, and dominion, and every 
name that is named, not only in this world 
but also in that which is to come ; and hath 
put all things under his feet ; and gave Him 
to be head over all things to the Church : " 
then shall that Church " which is his body, 
the fullness of Him that filleth all in all," as 
it is joined in its every living member to 
Him by faith, and trusts in Him alone, 
enjoy a present and eternal salvation. In 
each individual believer there is, indeed, 
infirmity, corruption, and sin ; but the ac- 
ceptance is not of us as we are in ourselves, 
but as we are in Christ ; as his atoning 
blood flows over us, and his righteous obe- 
dience to the law is imputed to us : and " in 
the Lord," saith the prophet, " shall all the 
seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory ; " 
" this is the heritage of the servants of the 
Lord ; and their righteousness is of me, saith 
the Lord." 

How vital then, to every one of us, my 
brethren, if we would know ourselves " ac- 
cepted," is the question, Am I " in the Be- 
loved " ? Have I been taught by the 



158 IN MEM0R1AM. 

Spirit of God to know and acknowledge 
myself a guilty and lost sinner? Have I 
utterly renounced my own righteousness, 
and all thought of creature merit or worth, 
as the ground of God's favor? Have I 
been drawn, by grace, to Him who was 
lifted up on the cross for the salvation of 
sinners ? Have I looked by faith upon 
Him, the Incarnate Son of God, bleeding 
and dying for my redemption ? Have I 
seen how perfect is his work, and how com- 
plete his righteousness ? And have I put 
my case in his hands, with the cry of a 
penitent soul, " Jesus, Master, have mercy on 
me ; " " plead Thou my cause and deliver 
me?" Do I believe that He hears me? 
and do I rest upon Him with full confi- 
dence in his promise, " Him that cometh 
unto me I will in no wise cast out " ? Does 
nothing shake me from this trust, and, 
though assaulted by Satan, and enticed by 
the world, and buffeted by remaining cor- 
ruption in my own nature, do I ■" know 
nothing," as my hope, but " Jesus Christ 
and Him crucified," while I cling in God- 
imparted strength to " the rock that is 
higher than I " ? O, brethren, if this is so, 
have you not felt how firm that rock is ? 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 159 

how it is based upon the eternal God, and 
rises grandly above all the billows and tem- 
pest of guilt ? Do you not find in it, not 
only munitions of defense, but springs of 
comfort ? There is the water of the Spirit 
to refresh, as well as the blood of atonement 
to cleanse ; there is the grace of life, as 
surely as the grace of rescue. Those to 
whom heaven is a certain inheritance are 
made meet by the sanctifying spirit for its 
holy enjoyment, while their security and 
their renewal are alike referred to the cove- 
nant, by which grace has made them " ac- 
cepted in the Beloved.*' And are there any 
before me unaccepted ? who have not fled 
to the refuge ? My dear, unconverted 
hearers ! I cannot close without a word of 
earnest call and entreaty to you. " Behold 
the Lamb of God ! " Come unto Jesus, 
just as you are ; you cannot make your- 
selves better ; come at once, and He will 
give you rest ; will present you faultless 
before God ; will clothe you with Himself, 
"and make you " accepted in the Beloved." 
May God draw you, every one, by his Spirit, 
to Him who was lifted up for your rescue ! 



A BRAND PLUCKED OUT OF THE FIRE. 
" Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire ? " — Zech. iii. 2. 

This is the description of every sinner, as 
he stands before God, " saved by grace," hi 
Christ Jesus. There are few passages of 
Scripture which set forth more clearly the 
condition of those vrhom Christ hath loved, 
M and washed from their sins in his own 
blood, and made kings and priests unto God 
and his Father," than the chapter from 
which my text is taken. The vision which 
was granted to the prophet is a graphic 
picture of the guilt of a sinner, the accusa- 
tion of his adversary, and the sufficient 
mediation of the Saviour. i% And He 
showed me," writes Zechariah, " Joshua, the 
high priest, standing before the angel of the 
Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand 
to resist him. And the Lord said unto Sa- 
tan, The Lord rebuke thee, Satan j even 
the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke 
thee : is not this a brand plucked out of the 
fire ? Xow Joshua was clothed with filthy 
garments, and stood before the angel, and 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 161 

he answered and spake unto those that stood 
before him, saying, Take away the filthy 
garments from him. And unto him he said, 
Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass 
from thee, and I will clothe thee with 
change of raiment. And I said, Let them 
set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set 
a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him 
with garments. And the angel of the Lord 
stood by." 

Mark, my brethren, the position of the 
believing sinner, as here exhibited in the 
person of Joshua. He " stands before the 
angel of the Lord ; " that is, the Jehovah 
Angel, Christ the Saviour. To Him the 
eye of faith, as soon as it is opened by re- 
newing grace, is turned. To Him comes 
the " weary and heavy-laden sinner," in- 
vited by his loving voice, and, in the deepest 
sense of guilt and ruin, stands before Him, 
with his hand upon his mouth, and not a 
word to say in excuse of his offenses. He 
is not overwhelmed with the glory of his 
majesty, or consumed with the brightness 
of his appearing ; because He is the Angel 
of the Covenant, the one Mediator between 
God and man. He " is clothed with the 
cloud " of that humanity which veils the 
11 



^ 



162 IN MEMORIAM. 

Godhead, and the " rainbow of promise is 
around Him." Let no sinner fear to ap- 
proach his throne of grace ; for no guilt is 
too great to be forgiven by Him, u who sav- 
eth unto the uttermost." To " pluck brands 
from the burning " is a Saviour's chosen 
work. O, my dear brethren, that you 
would trust his word, and test for your- 
selves his mercy. Him that cometh unto 
Him, He will in no wise cast out. Nor 
tremble because, when you draw near, " Sa- 
tan," " the accuser of the brethren," " stands 
at yotir right hand." He is there indeed as 
your adversary ; ready to do you all the 
evil that he can. Having " led you," in an 
unregenerate state, " captive at his will,", he 
will not, without a struggle, surrender you 
to the " Captain of your salvation." He 
will accuse you to God. He will accuse 
you at the bar of your own conscience. He 
will bring the law to bear upon you, and 
make your guilty soul tremble, at the thun- 
ders of Sinai against transgression. " We 
are not ignorant of his devices." Would that 
men more thoroughly understood his enmity, 
that they might flee to Christ, who will 
bruise him under our feet shortly. Observe, 
in the passage before us, how he antici- 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 163 

pates the attack of the evil one. While he 
stands glowering upon the escaped captive, 
ere he puts forth a hand, or opens his mouth 
to revile him, the voice of the Redeemer is 
heard, rebuking his malice, and owning 
" the Church, which He hath purchased with 
his blood," " chosen of the Lord;" and 
each of its elect members, " a brand plucked 
out of the fire." Satan must hold his peace, 
when our champion is the Son of God. "If 
God be for us, who can be against us?" 
" Who shall lay anything to the charge of 
God's elect ? It is God that justifieth : who 
is he that condemneth ? It is Christ that 
died, yea rather, that is risen again ; who is 
even at the right hand of God, who also mak- 
eth intercession for us." In that intercession 
is the believing sinner's safety. " Deliver 
from going down into the pit," is the plea, 
" I have found a ransom." And now, hav- 
ing looked upon the Intercessor, you may 
turn your eyes upon him for whom He is 
the Advocate. You shall see nothing that 
does not merit punishment ; you can dis- 
cover no ground of acceptance in a sinner; 
" clothed with filthy garments," he stands 
before the Angel. Nothing, my brethren, 
so brings to light the vileness of the trans- 



164 IN MEMORIAM. 

gressor, as the glory of his Redeemer. In 
the presence of Christ, at the foot of his 
cross, before the mercy-seat, sprinkled with 
his atoning blood, we are more deeply con- 
scious of sin, than anywhere else. That 
blood was shed for our offenses ; that infi- 
nite sacrifice of God's dear Son was re- 
quired for our acceptance. Nothing has 
any child of Adam to bring, but " the filthy 
garments" of his guilt. In these is he 
clothed by birth from a sinful father ; and 
from day to day he has more and more de- 
filed them by willful transgression. But 
coming unto Jesus, he stands before the 
only One who is able to deliver, and as he 
looks to Him, with a self-renouncing trust, 
and the prayer for acceptance through his 
blood, the " answer" of salvation will be 
heard in the presence of saints and angels, 
" Take away the filthy garments from him ; " 
while with the assurance of his love sealed 
upon the heart by the Holy Spirit, the voice 
of Jesus declares, " Behold, I have caused 
thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will 
clothe thee with change of raiment." So 
free, so glorious, is the grace of acceptance. 
No sooner does the eye of the Saviour rest 
upon the contrite sinner, than forgiveness 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 165 

is bestowed, and while Satan seeks to ac- 
cuse him, he is " clothed with the garment 
of salvation." 0, my fellow-sinners, whither 
will you turn for help ? will you not come 
to this sheltered place ? Here before Jesus, 
at the foot of his cross, and where He pleads 
at the right hand of God, there is safety. 

" When the accuser flings his darts, 
I look to Christ, my terrors cease ; 
His cross a hiding-place imparts ; 
He is my peace." 

" Is not this," He asks, in rebuke of the 
adversary, as He spreads the skirt of a kins- 
man over the believer, " a brand plucked 
out of the fire ? " From the stroke of jus- 
tice, from the sentence of the law, from the 
flames of hell, have I rescued him. With 
my life have I purchased his. " He shall 
never perish, neither shall any pluck him 
out of my hand." 

How great, brethren, the blessedness of 
being thus redeemed ; clothed with Christ, 
our righteousness, and defended by the 
Great Advocate of his people, at the bar of 
God. Do you know, let me ask, this grace 
of acceptance ? It is the very first that the 
sinner should seek, and it is to be found 
only by faith in the Son of God. " He that 



166 IN MEMORIAM. 

hath the Son hath life." Only believe, and 
the mercy is yours. But, as our prophet's 
vision teaches, the blessing does not stop 
here. The justified sinner is to be admitted 
to " fellowship " with God ; and " to show 
forth," in a new and holy life, " the praises 
of Him who has called him, out of darkness, 
into his marvelous light." A voice falls 
upon the ear of the child of grace, calling him 
to ministry and self-sacrifice, to the obla- 
tion of thanksgiving, in personal devotion 
to Christ .his Lord. As the symbol of that 
priesthood in which Joshua had a part at 
the request of the prophet, " Let them set a 
fair mitre upon his head," the privilege of 
service is conferred : u So they set a fair 
mitre upon his head, and clothed him with 
garments. And the angel of the Lord stood 
by." So also, St. Peter tells us that be- 
lievers are " a royal priesthood." Not that 
we have, either ministers or people, any 
sacrifice of propitiation to offer ; for this 
has been done " once for all," and He, who 
made it upon the cross, " stands by " the 
throne, pleading it in our behalf, and thus 
rendering possible a eucharistic offering. 
But the offering of ourselves, "body, soul. 
and spirit," a living sacrifice, is " accepta- 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 167 

ble to God," and is required at our hands. 
And who, my brethren, should be so ready to 
present it, as those who haye been " plucked 
out of the fire ; " graciously and wonclrously 
delivered by the passion of God's dear Son ? 
If we realize the death from which we have 
been snatched, we will feel that the life 
which has been bestowed should be devoted 
to the Lord. Let every pardoned sinner 
among you, who, standing before Christ, is 
justified by faith, bear in mind what he is, 
" a brand," which, gathered from the sin- 
ful stock of fallen Adam, was being con- 
sumed by the holiness and justice of God, 
itself feeding, with its own corruption, the 
flames of Divine vengeance. We have only 
to look into the experience of the wicked in 
this life, to see that the elements of eter- 
nal misery are at work. The most fright- 
ful idea which you can present to yourself 
of hell, is the development of the disease of 
sin. The malady which feeds upon the 
moral and physical being of the transgressor 
has but to run its course, unchecked by any 
remedy, and everlasting death must be the 
consequence. The penalties of Divine law 
overtake the evil-doer, through the avenues 
which himself has laid open to the assault, 



168 IN MEMORIAM. 

and the sinner, through, eternity, supplies 
the fuel for his own destruction. What 
gratitude, then, should be awakened in our 
hearts towards Him, who, at his own great 
sacrifice, has stretched forth an arm of 
strength, to provide deliverance from our 
guilt ! The salvation which has been 
wrought, the pardon which is sealed upon 
the believing heart by the Holy Ghost, the 
sense of peace and security, which the shelter 
of Christ affords, should fire the heart, re- 
newed by grace, with the most intense de- 
votion to the Saviour. " We love Him be- 
cause He first loved us." We will live to 
Him who gave Himself for us. No self- 
sacrifice can be too great ; no affection too 
strong; no labor too earnest. All I am, 
and all I have, is his, who hath " saved me 
by his grace." 

And let the same consideration keep you 
humble, in your thankfulness. What is the 
value of a half -burnt brand ? What is the 
merit of a sinner, already in the hands of jus- 
tice? Well may we inquire, Why this 
mercy ? Whence the depth of this love ? 
Why me, O Lord, when others are con- 
sumed ? Why men, when fallen angels are 
unredeemed ? " O, the depth of the riches 



BEV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 169 

both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! 
how unsearchable are his judgments, and his 
ways past finding out ! " 

Use the thought also, my believing breth- 
ren, for comfort and assurance. If Christ 
has plucked you from the fire, will He suffer 
you to be burnt ? Will He " forsake the work 
of his own hands " ? It is a blessed thing to 
realize that we are in Divine keeping. Om- 
nipotence is our security. Grace has res- 
cued us. The everlasting arms are around 
us. God has said, " I will never leave thee 
nor forsake thee." And though, in the path 
of obedience, we shall meet with many dif- 
ficulties, and be assaulted by powerful ad- 
versaries, and tried with various temptations, 
He who has snatched us from destruction 
is " praying for us," with his all-prevailing 
intercession ; his Holy Spirit is imparted in 
the covenant of grace. The strength with 
which the children of God battle against sin 
is not their own, but his ; and the promise 
is sure, that we shall be " kept by the power 
of God through faith unto salvation, ready 
to be revealed in the last time." 

And let us be stimulated to the highest 
effort after holiness, by the reflection that 
it will bring glory to God, for such " brands 



170 L\ MBMOR1AM. 

from the burning " to be transformed into 
lights of grace, kindled by his love, fed by 
the unction of his Spirit, and shining with 
the brightness of his gospel, in the midst of 
a dark and sinful world. " They glorified 
God in me," writes St. Paul, when he 
speaks of the effect that his conversation had 
upon his fellow Christians. And he declares. 
" For this cause I obtained mercy, that in 
me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all 
long-suffering.'* The grace of the Saviour 
is wondrotisly illustrated in the saved. 
They manifest his power and compassion to 
the sons of men. They are i% living epis- 
tles," in which are written by the finger of 
the Spirit the glory of God. Reflecting the 
image of Jesus, and the holiness of his gos- 
pel, men " take knowledge of them, that 
they have been with Him : " and we are 
bid to look for Him. as i; coming to be glo- 
rified in his saints, and admired in all them 
that believe." What an incitement this, to 
a holy walk : every Christian temper, every 
humble effort to do good, each act of self- 
denial, every victory over sin, exhibits the 
power and grace of Christ : ;< brands plucked 
from the fire " glow as stars in the firma- 
ment, i; declaring the glory of God. and 
showing forth his handiwork." 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 171 

Nor let us forget the consummation of that 
work of grace, which is begun in the rescue 
of the believer from the " death in tres- 
passes and sins." " The brand is plucked 
out of the fire " to be exalted to everlasting 
happiness and glory. The sense of deliver- 
ance should grow in your heart into " the 
hope of salvation." When we consider 
" the hole of the pit whence we were 
digged," we should lift the eye of faith to 
" the mountain of the Lord's house, which 
shall be established in the top of the moun- 
tain." Some men's views of heaven are 
clouded by their imperfect apprehension of 
the grace of redemption. Conscious of sin, 
encompassed with evil, they have but indis- 
tinct glimpses of " the glory which shall be 
revealed." They hesitate to contemplate 
that of which they feel so insecure. " The 
crown of life " is too much regarded as if it 
were a reward of our imperfect obedience, 
instead of " the gift of God through Jesus 
Christ ; " and hence there is reluctance to 
look upon its beauty, count its precious 
jewels, and estimate its eternal splendor. If 
we were, through grace, assured of having 
been " plucked from the fire," we should 
have much greater satisfaction in anticipat- 



172 IN MEMORIAM. 

ing our everlasting joy. Heaven would 
look like home. We should survey the 
" many mansions of our Father's house," 
and "know " that we " have a building of 
God, eternal in the heavens." And this 
heavenlv-mindedness would incite us to 
holiness ; we should be ever seeking to 
be " made meet " for that which we are to 
inherit. Little would we regard the trials 
and losses of earth. " Strangers and pil- 
grims," we should press "to the prize 
of our high calling." Utterly unworthy, 
we should yet realize that to this we are 
" called ; " and to this, through grace, shall 
we surely come ; for " plucked " by God 
" from the fire," we are held by an arm 
omnipotent ; and no man is able to pluck 
us out of the Father's hand. 

Are there any here to-day, who have not 
been " plucked out of the fire ? " any who 
are yet " brands " of sin, kindled by lust, 
fed by corruption, blown upon by the 
breath of Satan, and the winds of tempta- 
tion, burning with passion, making of 
themselves fuel for the righteous flames of 
Divine vengeance against the guilty ? O, 
my unconverted hearer ! that I could show 
you your peril, and impress you with a sense 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 173 

of your ruin ! Rapidly is sin doing its work ; 
parching up your spiritual nature, destroy- 
ing all that is noble and godlike in your 
being. As the hissing flames enwrap some 
majestic edifice, and, leaping from roof to 
spire, leave a charred and ill-shapen ruin, 
so is your moral nature assailed by evil; 
and unless the conflagration is checked, the 
" temple of your body " "will be a desolation. 
Cry unto God for help. He can stretch 
forth the hand that shall save ; He can de- 
liver you from the destroyer, and pluck 
you from the fire. But there is hope no- 
where else ; and the flames that are feeding 
upon you while you give way to passion, 
and shroud your soul in unbelief, are but 
precursors of the ruin which shall be com- 
plete, when, with no Saviour to shelter, and 
no advocate to maintain your cause, you 
shall stand face to face with that God in 
judgment, who is " a consuming fire." Be- 
fore that awful hour, may Christ, by his 
grace, " pluck you as a brand out of the 
fire." 



THE CARNAL MDsD ENMITY AGAINST 
GOD. 

"The carnal mind is enmity against God." — Romans 
viii. 7. 

By " the carnal mind " is meant the cor- 
rupt nature of man. The sacred Scriptures 
inform us that, after his fall, " Adam begat 
a son in his own likeness ; " and our Lord 
declares that " Whatsoever is born of the 
flesh is flesh.*' The Apostle therefore sets 
forth the condition in which every child of 
Adam is born into the world. 

Without a correct knowledge of our 
misery, we shall not earnestly seek that 
renewal after the likeness of God, which 
Jesus Christ, the second Adam, as St. 
Paul names Him, hath, by his cross and 
passion, purchased for his believing seed. 
Let us then, with prayer for the teaching 
of God the Holy Ghost, examine what the 
Word of God reveals concerning our ruin. 
The Inspired Record is explicit, as to the 
way in which sin entered our world. The 
Bible opens with the account of the crea- 
tion of man " in the image of God,*' and tells 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 175 

us of his being placed under probation, in 
which a positive command of God was the 
test of obedience. This command Adam, 
yielding to the temptation of Satan, dis- 
obeyed, and so came under sentence of 
death. Besides the mortality of the body, 
the penalty included the loss of the Divine 
image in which man was created, and his 
banishment, along with the fallen angels, 
from God. Jehovah pronounced the sen- 
tence, and our parents were driven from 
Eden, into a world cursed on account of 
their transgression. As the head of the 
human family, God made with Adam the 
covenant of works. His posterity were 
"yet in his loins" when he transgressed, 
and in him broke the condition of that 
covenant, in which life is the reward of 
obedience. Had he retained innocence, his 
descendants would have inherited his re- 
ward ; when he yielded to temptation, by 
the just judgment of God, they were over- 
taken by the curse. " In Adam," saith 
the Scriptures, "all die." " By one man 
sin entered into the world, and death by 
sin, and so death passed upon all men, for 
that all have sinned." The Word of God 
declares the universality of sin. " The 



176 IN MEMORIAM. 

Lord," we are told, " looked down from 
heaven upon the children of men, to see if 
there were any that did understand and 
seek God. They are all gone aside ; they 
are altogether become filthy ; there is none 
that doeth good, no not one." " Who can 
bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? 
Not one." " How then can he be clean 
that is born of a woman ? " 

But what is each man's portion of this 
universal guilt ? My brethren, there is no 
question of higher moment. It is personal 
to us all. To bring sin home to the con- 
science, is one of the main ends of preach- 
ing. To prove the depravity of human 
nature, so that we may, every one for our- 
selves, realize that " there is no health in 
us," and be brought through grace to re- 
pentance and faith in Christ, is, before all 
things, necessary. Yet no task is more diffi- 
cult to accomplish. It can only be effected, 
in anv case, when the declarations and re- 
proofs of Scripture are carried home to the 
heart, by the convicting Spirit of Grace. 
The text presents a fearful view of corrup- 
tion. " The carnal mind is enmity against 
God." No words could be more explicit. 
It does not describe our fallen nature as 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 177 

indifferent to God, or forgetful of Him, 
or partially opposed to Him, but as itself 
" enmity against Him/ 9 " An enemy," it 
has been said, " may be reconciled ; a 
carnal man may become spiritual ; but 
enmity, in the abstract, cannot be recon- 
ciled, and therefore the carnal mind, must 
be crucified and destroyed." Let us surrey 
the force and extent of this enmity, as it 
reigns in the unregenerate sinner. 

All the faculties of man's being are 
affected by its influence. 

Look at his understanding. 

In the Epistle to the Ephesians, St. Paul 
describes the condition of the Gentiles, be- 
fore their conversion to Christ : " Haying 
the understanding darkened, being alienated 
from the life of God through the ignorance 
that is in them, because of the blindness of 
their heart;" and the prophet Jeremiah 
addresses the impenitent of his day as a 
" foolish people, and without understand- 
ing ; which have eyes and see not ; which 
have ears and hear not." Man has lost, 
through sin, the intuitive perception of 
truth. He does not clearly discern between 
right and wrong ; nor can he accurately dis- 
tinguish truth from falsehood. Enfeebled 
12 



178 IN MEM OR I AM. 

in intellect, his judgment is clouded, and 
his reasoning powers weakened; the 
venom of sin has poisoned his mind, and 
his faculties are under eclipse. This may- 
be observed, in regard to the concerns of 
this life. How much toil is needed for the 
investigation of earthly things, and the ac- 
quirement of every kind of worldly wisdom. 
How men strive after knowledge, and how 
little of it do they attain. To get some 
glimpse of the extent of our ignorance is, 
perhaps, the greatest acquirement of those 
who are most learned. And when the 
things of God are considered, the darkness 
of the understanding is more conspicuous. 
44 The world, by wisdom, knew not God." 
The noblest efforts of the mind, the toil of 
sages and philosophers, could not recover 
the lost knowledge of our Creator and Pre- 
server. And when God revealed Himself, 
and the Son of his love became incarnate 
and brought us salvation, sinners, in their 
blindness, rejected his grace and compassion. 
" The natural man," saith St. Paul, " re- 
ceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, 
for they are foolishness unto him, neither 
can he know them, because they are spirit- 
ually discerned." In every age, and in all 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 179 

regions of the world, apart from the en- 
lightening grace of the Holy Ghost, " Christ 
crucified," the great theme of the gospel, 
has been " unto the Jews a stumbling block, 
and unto the Greeks foolishness." " The 
light shineth in darkness, and the darkness 
comprehendeth it not." " We grope for the 
wall," saith the prophet, " like the blind ; 
and we grope as if we had no eyes ; we 
stumble at noonday as in the night." 

Look at conscience. 

Without entering into an analysis of its 
powers, it may be described as the faculty 
which approves or condemns, according to a 
standard recognized by the understanding. 
The sanctioning power of the mind, it is 
not itself a judge of right, but determines 
whether there is agreement in conduct with 
what reason accepts as law. Conscience is, 
therefore, a most important faculty. God's 
witness within us, it would, of all our en- 
dowments, seem to be least capable of de- 
terioration. Yet the Scriptures declare that 
" conscience is defiled." This defilement 
consists not so much in its sanctioning 
error, so that men are conscientiously 
wrong, for this evil is to be charged rather 
to a perverted judgment, which, in every 



180 IN MEMORIAM. 

unrenewed man, rejecting the law of God, 
sets up instead a false standard, according 
to which, the moral sense renders its ver- 
dict. But the great defect of conscience is 
her inactivity. Enfeebled by sin, her dis- 
cernment has been weakened ; her quick 
instinct has been dulled ; she is seared by 
contact with evil, and has lost her nice 
balance and accurate perception. She 
fails, boldly, on the instant, and with steadi- 
ness, to witness for the right. Our hearts 
must be " sprinkled from an evil conscience ; " 
our moral sense must be stirred by the Spirit 
of ; truth, or we cannot " serve 'the living 
God." 

Observe the memory. 

How tenacious of evil, how feeble in 
u holding fast that which is good ! " Hence 
the anxiety of St. Peter to put Chris- 
tians " always in remembrance of " Divine 
things, "though they knew them, and were 
established in the present truth." He was 
aware of the defect of memory in the things 
of God. He knew how ready we are to for- 
get mercies, and become unmindful of com- 
mands and promises, while we too readily 
retain the most trifling matters, and have, in 
our memories, a store-house for evil. 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 181 

Consider the imaginations and thoughts. 

" God/' we are told, " saw that the wicked- 
ness of man was great in the earth, and that 
every imagination of the thoughts of his 
heart was only evil continually." And lest 
this should be supposed to be the description 
of a period of extraordinary wickedness, 
such as introduced the flood, the truth is 
repeated, in almost the same words, " The 
Lord said, The imagination of man's heart is 
evil, from his youth." " Vain thoughts," 
saith the prophet, " dwell within us." Our 
fancy is in wild disorder. Who has not 
been painfully conscious of the corrupt 
license of an unsanctified imagination ? 
Unpurified by grace, the mind of man is 
" a chamber of imagery," where idols are 
portrayed in hideous deformity, and all is 
sin and uncleanness. " Cleanse the thoughts 
of my heart, by the inspiration of the Holy 
Spirit," is the prayer most necessary for us 
all. 

But above all, mark the will and the 
affections. 

" The heart," saith the prophet, " is de- 
ceitful above all things, and desperately 
wicked." Our will is in rebellion against 
God and his law. Our affections are en-- 



182 IN MEMORIAM. 

twined around unlawful objects; or, they 
embrace such as are lawful, in an inordi- 
nate degree. Idolatry is the ruling sin of 
the fallen creature. We have " changed 
the truth of God into a lie, and worship and 
serve the creature more than the Creator." 
Our Saviour's indictment against every sin- 
ner is, " Ye will not come unto me." His 
earnest, pleading entreaty is, " Why will ye 
die ? " The opposition of the will is the es- 
sence of sin ; and it is invincible, except by 
the grace of God. God's people are " made 
willing in the day of his power ; " and his 
sons " are born not of blood, nor of the will 
of the flesh, nor of the wi]l of man, but of 
God." The affections accompanying the 
will are led by it to embrace and cling to 
evil ; and rebellion is fomented, and kept in 
force, by hatred. Thus it is that " the 
carnal mind," as the Apostle declares in the 
text, " is enmity against God." The oppo- 
sition seated in the will is sustained by the 
darkness of the understanding, the defile- 
ment of conscience, the feebleness of memory 
in regard to the mercy of God, the vanity of 
the thoughts, and the wanton disorder of 
the affections, which, instead of entwining 
themselves around Christ, and mounting to 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 183 

God in heaven, grovel upon the earth, and 
prefer " the creature to the Creator." 

Such, my brethren, is fallen man ; so 
fearful is the ruin of transgression. " There 
is none that understandeth, or seeketh after 
God." " In me," saith the Apostle, " that 
is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." 
O that sinners, instructed by the Word and 
Spirit of God, could see themselves as they 
appear in his sight ! as they will stand, un- 
less changed in the day of grace, by the re- 
newing Spirit, before angels and men, at 
the judgment bar of Christ ! There is no 
such thing as indifference ; no neutrality on 
the part of any, in this matter. " He that 
is not with me," saith the Lord, " is against 
me." Disobedience to his will, separation 
from his cause, rejection of his Son, is en- 
mity. Unless " the carnal mind " be de- 
stroyed, and the spiritual mind implanted 
in its stead ; unless there be the new birth 
of the Spirit from above, producing in you 
the new creation in Christ Jesus, and chang- 
ing the child of Adam into the son of God, 
you remain in hostile opposition, " aliens 
from the commonwealth of Israel, and 
strangers to the covenant of promise." It 
does not require high-handed wickedness, to 



184 IN MEMORIAM. 

prove that you are foes. Indifference, im- 
penitence, unbelief, worldliness, will be suffi- 
cient to manifest antagonism. " The carnal 
mind is enmity against God ; " and why ? 
" for it is not subject to the law of God, 
neither indeed .can be ; " " so then they that 
are in the flesh cannot please God." 

But, my dear brethren, there is a gospel 
to be preached to sinners ; a way of access 
is provided for " all who are afar off." 
" When we were enemies," saith St. Paul, 
"we were reconciled to God by the death 
of his Son." " Christ died for the ungodly." 
His blood "cleanseth from all sin." His 
righteous obedience to the law, imputed 
through faith to his believing members, is 
the ground of " acceptance in the Beloved." 
His Holy Spirit, the purchase of his cross, 
renews the children of grace, taking away 
all their enmity, and restamping them with 
the likeness of God. And if "to be car- 
nally minded is death, to be spiritually 
minded is life and peace." 

Have you then been taught of the Spirit, 
under the searching light of the Divine law, 
to know your ruin ? Seek at once, and with 
all your heart, the remedy. Go to Christ. 
Confess your enmity. Ask Him to pardon 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 185 

it. Beseech Him to remove it. He is ex- 
alted to give repentance and remission of 
sins. Put your case, then, in his hands. 
Ask Him, as Advocate with the Father, to 
" plead your cause, and deliver you." He 
has left, in his Word, this promise, which 
you can sue out in faith and prayer before 
Him : " A new heart will I give you, and 
a new spirit will I put within you, and I 
will take away the stony heart out of your 
flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 
And I will put my Spirit within you, and 
cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye 
shall keep my judgments, and do them." 
What more complete provision could be 
made? This spirit, which the Spirit of 
God shall implant, will surely triumph, 
though "the flesh lusteth against it." 
" The law in the members " will indeed 
" war against the law in the mind ; " and 
the tried believer may have the cry wrung 
from him, in the contest, " O, wretched man 
that I am, who shall deliver me from the 
body of this death ? " But relief is at hand, 
and the almighty succor granted shall cause 
him to exclaim, " I thank God through 
Jesus Christ our Lord." " Crucified with 
Christ," he nevertheless shall live ; " and 



186 IN MEMORIAM. 

the life which he lives in the flesh, he shall 
live by faith in the Son of God." The 
enmity of the carnal mind shall be de- 
stroyed. " The eyes of the understanding 
being enlightened," the converted child of 
God shall " know what is the hope of his 
calling, and what the riches of the glory of 
his inheritance in the saints." His moral 
sense being purged by the blood of Christ, 
and stirred by the Spirit of Holiness, he shall 
" serve God with a pure conscience." His 
memory, strengthened by the grasp it has 
upon Jesus and his salvation, will be " filled 
with the words of God's law," and the 
recollections of his love. His " thoughts 
within him " will refresh his soul with con- 
templations of God ; " imaginations that 
exalt themselves against God will be cast 
down ; " his will, conformed to that of his 
reconciled Father, will delight to submit to 
the commandments ; affections called back 
from their wandering, and fastened around 
the cross, upon Christ our Redeemer, will 
be " set on things above ; " and the whole 
moral nature, renewed and sustained by 
grace, will grow in daily resemblance to 
God. " Old things will have passed away, 
and all things will have become new." 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 187 

I do not affirm that this will be the work 
of an instant. Conversion may, indeed, be 
sudden, like that of St. Paul, or the jailer 
at Philippi ; or it may be more gradual and 
gentle in its operation, like that of Lydia, 
" whose heart the Lord opened, that she at- 
tended to the things which were spoken," 
or like that of Timothy, who " from a child 
had known the holy Scriptures." But the 
change being through grace effected, the re- 
bellion of the will being subdued, and the 
enmity of the heart removed, there will be 
this blessed growth and progress ; for " the 
faith of the just is as the shining light, that 
shineth more and more unto the perfect 
day." 

The solemn question for each one of us to 
ask ourselves is, Has this change begun in 
me? Has the "enmity" of my " carnal 
mind against God " been at all removed ? 
Am I born again ? In sin, I was born into 
the world ; have I, by the Spirit of Grace, 
been born into the kingdom of Christ ? 
Born of water in baptism, dedicated to 
God, and sealed with the sacrament of the 
new life, have I been regenerated by the 
Holy Ghost, and made a new creature in 
Christ Jesus ? Have I felt the intolerable 



188 IN MEM0R1AM. 

burden of guilt and corruption ? Have I 
gone to Christ in faith, to lay that burden 
upon Him ? Can I trust that in Him I am 
accepted, through Him forgiven ? Do I 
find in myself new life — feeble, it may 
be — struggling against corruption, some- 
times -wounded, often weak, yet proving its 
reality in faith and love and obedience ; 
in clinging to Christ for his free salvation ; 
communing with Christ, in the Holy Ghost, 
for comfort and joy and peace ; fighting in 
Christ and with Him, against every form of 
sin; and desiring, above all things, to be 
conformed in will and deed to the holiness 
of God ? My brethren, these are the proofs 
of the Spirit's indwelling. It is this devotion 
to truth and right and God and holiness, in 
the face of all temptation and opposition 
whether from the devil, the world, or the 
flesh, which shows that the^ power of sin is 
broken, the enmity of the carnal mind ex- 
changed for the life and peace of the spirit- 
ual mind. I beseech you, if you know noth- 
ing of this, seek it this very day, at the 
mercy-seat. Go and plead your case, at 
the foot of the cross, and before the great 
High Priest, who " ever liveth to make 
intercession." To be at " enmity against 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 189 

Him " is the most terrible of evils. " Kiss 
the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish 
from the way, when his wrath is kindled but 
a little. Blessed are all they that trust in 
Him." 



THE ALTAR TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. 

" As I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar 
with this inscription, Tq the unknown God." — Acts xvii. 23. 

These words are taken from the address 
of St. Paul to the Athenians, when he was 
arraigned before the court of Areopagus, on 
the charge of being a setter forth of strange 
gods. It is a scene of no ordinary interest : 
the Apostle of the Gentiles, standing a wit- 
ness for the truth in the midst of Mar's hill, 
in a world-renowned court of antiquity, upon 
a spot sacred to the Athenians, where tradi- 
tion taught that even gods had been judged, 
and where had been heard the loftiest notes 
of Grecian eloquence. The land of genius 
and philosophy, though subdued by arms, 
had not lost her literary glory ; the monu- 
ments of her refinement, and surpassing ex- 
cellence in art, were grouped in elegance 
around temples and porticoes ; columns and 
arches were not, as they are now, in crum- 
bling ruins, but lifted themselves beneath 
the sunlight of an Orient sky, in primeval 
glory and beauty. It was classic ground 
upon which the Apostle stood, and every 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 191 

object of nature and art, in the amphitheatre 
around him, must have awakened in his cul- 
tivated mind some association with the past 
of this wonderful people. 

Nor was the audience gathered before 
him less remarkable. It did not consist of 
illiterate Jewish peasants, or rude inhabit- 
ants of Roman provinces. Philosophers and 
rhetoricians, men of genius and learning, 
were his auditors. There sat the pleasure- 
loving Epicurean, and at his side the acute 
and spiritual Platonist ; the Stoic scowled 
with unnatural sternness from a neighbor- 
ing portico, while some skeptical or cavil- 
ing Sophist inquired in tones of contempt- 
uous scorn, What will this babbler say ? 

In the midst of such an assembly, the 
Apostle was to give an account of his doc- 
trine. His spirit was stirred within him, 
at the idolatry, to which each smoking al- 
tar bore witness, and the sin and ignorance, 
which held captive the populace around 
him. Classical associations were forgotten ; 
poetry and art lost, for the moment, their 
beauty. The enchanting view of Athens, in 
her unrivaled loveliness, was darkened by 
the pall of sin, and the dread frown of an 
incensed Jehovah covered with a cloud 



192 IN MEM0R1AM. 

" the eye of Greece." The doctrine of Jesus 
and the resurrection was the absorbing 
thought in the Apostle's mind, and to pro- 
claim it, with power, was his single effort. 
Yet it was not with inconsideration, that 
the preacher urged his message. He had 
learnt to become all things to all men, and 
his sermon before the assembled wisdom of 
Greece was every way worthy of the occa- 
sion. Not that the Apostle laid aside his 
plainness of speech, or sought to win his 
hearers with the enticing words of man's 
wisdom. It was forcible preaching of Christ 
that he gave to these intellectual auditors. 
It was God calling the world to account for 
its iniquities. It was a Man ordained by 
Him to be alike the Saviour and the Judge 
of his creatures, that he made known ; and 
fearlessly did he attack, even in this brief 
speech, the errors of each self-conceited the- 
orist before him. Examine his address, and 
you will see how Epicurean and Stoic and 
Academician, and all the sects of philoso- 
phers, were met on their own ground, and 
were struck with the sword of the Spirit, in 
the hand of this champion of the cross. Yet 
the manner in which this was accomplished, 
cannot but hold us in admiration. It is in- 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 193 

spired reason ; it is God-directed intellect 
which we see in conflict with the gifted and 
the learned. But it is not my purpose to 
analyze St. Paul's sermon : I ask attention 
now to its opening sentences, that you may 
derive from thence instruction for yourselves. 
Then, St. Luke tells us, " Paul stood on 
Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I 
perceive that in all things ye are too super- 
stitious. For as I passed by, and beheld 
your devotions, I found an altar with this 
inscription, To the unknown God. Whom 
therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare 
I unto you." The expression " too supersti- 
tious " is ambiguous, and may have been se- 
lected as capable of a double signification ; 
literally it might be rendered, Ye are given 
to the fear or worship of demons, or, Ye are 
very much addicted to religious worship of 
every kind ; and as this naturally led to su- 
perstition, the Apostle may have designed 
to rest a latent reproof under what might 
be regarded as commendation. It was a 
charge, however, whether complimentary or 
otherwise, which was illustrated by what 
the speaker had himself observed, as he 
passed along the thoroughfares of their city. 
Not satisfied with the legions of gods 

13 



194 IN MEM0R1AM. 

with which their own mythology furnished 
them, nor yet with additions from Egypt 
and Rome and other countries, in the midst 
of their temples and multitude of shrines 
they had raised an " altar with this inscrip- 
tion, To the unknown God," confessing thus 
that they were in need of instruction, and 
in the darkness of paganism, waiting for the 
light. "Whether this altar to the unknown 
God was a tribute to the God of the Jews, 
or, as some have thought, was erected in the 
excess of superstitious devoteeism, or in ac- 
knowledgment of an ignorance which they 
mourned, it does not concern us to inquire ; 
the fact that there was such an altar, as is 
described by St. Paul, is mentioned by pro- 
fane writers, and this is all that is necessary 
to be known for the purpose which I have 
in view this morning. Suppose, brethren, 
the Apostle, instead of wandering through 
the streets of Athens, had been passing 
along the thoroughfares of this city, look- 
ing in upon the churches, and taking note 
of the worship which is offered on this holy 
day. He would not be confronted with the 
statues of Jupiter or Minerva, or any of the 
deities of antiquity. But in churches Scrip- 
tural in their creed and orthodox in their 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 195 

worship ; nay, brethren, at once to bring 
the matter home to yourselves, in this house 
of God, and in the hearts of some who are 
here assembled, would he not find many an 
altar with this inscription, To the unknown 
God ? All who here pretend to worship, 
I presume, address their prayers to God. 
Enlightened by Scriptural teaching, you 
bend not before the shrine of saint or 
angel. But who is this God upon whom 
you call ? Is He a known or an unknown 
divinity ? Permit me, brethren, to draw near 
and behold your devotions. Here is an 
altar which I will examine. At once I see 
that here is no peculiarly Christian worship. 
It is not the grateful oblation of a self- 
condemned sinner, casting himself upon the 
great sacrifice of Christ, and laying hold, 
with the hand of faith, upon the altar of 
the cross. Worship such as this may have 
been seen in heathen times, in Athens itself, 
before the light of the gospel shone upon 
the hill of Mars. It is what men, in their 
folly and their sin, call natural religion ; as 
if any religion were natural to him who is 
by nature a child of wrath, except such as 
is hateful to a holy God ! A natural relig- 
ion there indeed was, and we may, under 



196 IN MEMORIAM. 

that name, still remember it ; but it was the 
faith and worship of unfallen Adam, of 
man yet retaining his Maker's likeness and 
walking in his Maker's law. Such a religion 
becomes us not now ; we want a remedial 
religion, a faith which sets forth more than 
man's original relations to God. The gospel 
of redemption, the approach through a 
Mediator, is indispensable to such miserable 
apostates as the members of the human 
family. Yet some, even in Christian lands, 
think to reconstruct the ancient altar at 
which man, unfallen, might have bowed. 
Inscribed with the name of God, it presents 
only a vague idea of a Creator and Pre- 
server, and a slight sentiment of gratitude, 
very feeble and inactive, has called forth 
their worship. Men often come to stand 
before God in their own right and in their 
own virtue, not to confess error and guilt, 
not to beg for mercy, and seek for grace : 
but to display, it may be, their own good- 
ness in the royal court ; to justify themselves 
in the presence of the All-holy, and to give 
expression to a sentiment which is more 
akin to poetry than to religion ; if it be not 
pantheism, into which these worshippers 
have fallen ; if nature's God is to them 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 197 

anything more than the impersonation of 
nature herself. Yet it is not his charac- 
ter, his will, his mercy, or his wrath, on 
which they dwell. In their conversation 
they will talk eloquently of "the great- 
ness of Providence," and of the Divine 
beauty displayed in nature. If they write 
books, they will have a poetic deity to pre- 
side over humanity, and form a background 
for the creature to show himself upon. If 
they go forth into the fields, an enraptur- 
ing tide of sentiment swells within their 
souls. If they stray into the church, music 
or scenic amusement is all that elicits their 
applause, and they are eloquent on the 
beautiful and aesthetic in religion. Such 
men I have often met ; their altars have 
attracted notice ; in some cases I have been 
drawn towards them, with the hope that 
the fire of real piety might be found burn- 
ing there, and the incense of true devotion 
rising up to heaven ; but alas ! I have often 
been disappointed,~and have been compelled 
with sorrow to read on their worship, how- 
ever externally attractive, this inscription, 
To the unknown God. 

If any such should happen now to be in 
this house of the Lord, any one who accepts 



198 IN MEM0R1AM. 

revelation, and would be shocked to have it 
supposed that he could offer any other than 
Christian worship, to him I would speak. 
The fall of man, and his redemption by the 
Incarnate Son of God, are facts of which he 
has heard from childhood, and which it has 
never been his habit to dispute. Prayer, he 
knows, must be offered through the one Me- 
diator ; and he judges that the evangelical 
language of our liturgy, dwelling upon the 
name and merit of our great " Advocate 
with the Father," is quite in accordance 
with Scripture. Surely, then, we may not 
expect to find his altar raised to an unknown 
God ; surely it cannot be against such a wor- 
shipper, that the Apostle could lay any 
charge of ignorance of the object of his de- 
votion. So some of you may be ready to 
exclaim, but we would beg you to observe 
before you decide, to look well before you 
pronounce. There is indeed an appearance 
of Christianity ; the fire of heaven may seem 
to glow upon this altar ; but a nearer ap- 
proach will show it to you shrouded in ig- 
norance, and the coals that should be bright 
and living, dead and entombed in the ashes 
of unbelief. Men do not, perhaps, object to 
the truths of Christianity, they do not deny 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 199 

the fact of a redemption, they blaspheme 
not the name of our beloved Saviour ; but 
what practical use, in their approaches to 
God, do they make of the Saviour and his 
plan of deliverance ? Is not the form in 
which they have been taught to conclude 
their devotions, " through Jesus Christ our 
Lord," the most empty, often, that can rest 
upon human life ? a stereotyped hypocrisy 
with which men cover their sin, and delude 
their souls ? Do all who make use, in pub- 
lic and private, of this precious name of 
Christ, really draw near to God through 
Him ? Do they realize, as well as profess, 
that for such lost and ruined sinners there 
is, there can be, no other approach ? Do all 
who plead the name of Christ appreciate 
the character of Jehovah, as a God of holi- 
ness, of justice, and of truth ; who " will 
not by any means clear the guilty,'" who 
4i cannot look upon sin," and will surely 
punish every, the least transgression ? Do 
they believe the declarations of his inspired 
Word which so plainly set Him forth as the 
fearful " Avenger of the wicked?" and 
have they a grateful recognition of the won- 
derful plan of wisdom and love, whereby his 
attributes are harmonized, his holiness vin- 



200 IN MEMORIAM. 

dicated, and a way opened for the exercise 
of his mercy ? Is it to this plan of salva- 
tion for the chief of sinners, by the atoning 
blood and imputed righteousness of a Di- 
vine Substitute and Saviour, received by 
faith, that they turn for their every hope ? 
Is it really trusting to Christ's work, and 
Christ's intercession, that men use his holy 
name, and seal their petitions with the 
signet of his love ? Alas ! brethren, truth 
compels us to say, We fear not ; in some in- 
stances we know it is not so. Not all who 
seem to erect Christian altars, thus worship 
a reconciled God through a mediating Re- 
deemer ; not all who name in their prayers 
the name of Jesus, thus rest in his merit and 
" lay hold of the hope set before them in 
the gospel." 

But I have not yet concluded my observa- 
tions ; there is another altar that I wish to 
examine. There seems here to be an ad- 
vance upon both the preceding. Christian 
worship, prayer through the one Media- 
tor, is not only professed, but appears to be 
offered with sincerity. Holy rites, perhaps, 
are multiphed, times and places and forms 
are much attended to. The Church's 
courts are frequented, and our liturgy is, 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 201 

perhaps, daily repeated. The closet, it may 
be, is entered. David's habit of morning, 
even, and noontide prayer, perhaps, is 
adopted, and we would hope that this was 
no altar to an " unknown God." Yet, 
brethren, if we are wise, we will still let the 
Apostle admonish us ; it was among a peo- 
ple whom he designates, as some have 
translated it, " very much given to devo- 
tion," that he found this altar. " God is a 
Spirit ; and they that worship Him must 
worship Him in spirit and in truth." A 
service of love and faith, of penitence and 
obedience, is what alone He will accept. 
The form of prayer without the beseeching 
heart, the bended knee, the reverent ges- 
ture, and well chosen words, without the 
broken and contrite spirit, how hateful are 
they in his sight ! What inscription will you 
read upon the altar of the hypocrite, or the 
formalist ? How will you characterize the 
worship of the man who thinks to trick Je- 
hovah with profession, as he deceives his 
fellow-men; or that other who hopes to 
purchase forbearance by a heartless round 
of empty ceremony and tedious ritualism ? 
What, I ask, can charity herself read upon 
these altars, but the inscription of the Athe- 



202 IN MEMORIAM. 

nians, To the unknown God ? Unknown 
in his omniscience, unknown in his spirit- 
uality, unknown in his holiness. Christian- 
ity has, indeed, its outward forms of profes- 
sion, its divinely appointed sacraments and 
ordinances, in which the faithful soul will 
rejoice to manifest its " hidden life," and to 
seek the increase of its grace ; but such is 
the deceitfulness of our hearts, and our 
earthliness of disposition, that we must be 
on the watch, lest we rest in what is only 
the external manifestation of that spiritual 
life which is from God, and show our igno- 
rance of our Maker, by offering Him a hom- 
age which his holiness cannot do otherwise 
than reject. " We are the circumcision," 
saith St. Paul, " which worship God in the 
spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have 
no confidence in the flesh." It is a fearful 
thing for one bearing the Christian name 
to worship " an unknown God ; " to have 
no Scriptural conception of the Divine char- 
acter, and no spiritual communion with a 
Heavenly Father. Brethren, let us ex- 
amine our altars, and see what is the devo- 
tion that we render. Do we know God, 
Jiaving been first known and loved of Him 
in Christ Jesus ? Do we know Him by 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 203 

faith, approaching through his beloved Son ? 
Do we know Him as a Spirit, requiring a 
heart service ? Do we know Him as a 
Father, reconciled in Christ Jesus ? Do 
we know Him as our Lord and King, ren- 
dering unto Him a cheerful and steady 
obedience ? Do we know Him as a Teacher, 
anointing us with the blessed " unction " of 
his Holy Spirit, that we may " know all 
things" concerning Christ and salvation? 
Do we know Him as a Guide, leading and 
sustaining us all the way of our pilgrimage ? 
Do we know Him as our Friend, sympathiz- 
ing with us in our sorrows, helping us in 
our difficulties, sustaining us in our weak- 
ness, consoling us in our afflictions ? In 
fine, do we know Him as the Bible reveals 
Him, and the Holy Spirit makes Him 
known to his beloved and believing people? 
and so do we worship Him, rendering no 
formal and self-righteous homage, but calling 
upon Him, through Christ, " without ceas- 
ing," in our hearts ? St. Paul thus " knew 
in whom he had believed," and hence his 
deep concern for those who erected altars to 
an unknown God ; hence his burning anx- 
iety to " declare unto " them " Him whom 
they ignorantly worshipped ; " hence his 



204 IN ME MORI AM, 

boldness on Mars' hill, and amid a congre- 
gation of philosophers, " preaching Jesus 
and the resurrection." Brethren, let us de- 
sire for ourselves, and all men, the true and 
saying knowledge of God, in Jesus Christ 
our Lord ; and if we would raise in our 
hearts an altar to his worship, let us beseech 
his Holy Spirit to efface from our guilty- 
souls the Athenian inscription, and write 
instead thereof, " Increasing in the knowl- 
edge of God." Yea, let every one carry 
away with him to-day the advice of Eli- 
phaz : " Acquaint now thyself with the Al- 
mighty, and be at peace ; thereby good shall 
come unto thee. Thou shalt make thy 
prayer unto Him, and He shall hear thee, 
and thou shalt pay thy vows." 



FOKSAKING ALL TO FOLLOW CHRIST. 

11 They forsook all, and followed Him." — Luke v. 11. 

Such, as you have heard in the Gospel for 
the day, was the conduct of Simon Peter, 
James, and John, when by the manifesta- 
tion of his power, in the miraculous draught 
of fishes, they had been assured of the 
Divine mission of Jesus. The first impulse 
of Peter, at least, had been of a very differ- 
ent kind. No sooner did the " glory of the 
invisible God," "in the face of Jesus 
Christ," shine upon his heart, than, like 
many others of whom we have mention in 
Holy Scripture, he was overwhelmed with 
the conviction of his guilt ; and realized, as 
he had never done before, the impurity of 
his nature, in contrast with the holiness of 
God. The miracle proclaimed the present 
Deity. " When Simon Peter saw it, he fell 
down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from 
me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." The 
eye of his mind was pained with the out- 
bursting of the Sun of Righteousness, and 
when he turned it within, he saw so much 



206 IN MEMORIAM. 

corruption, that lie " abhorred himself " as 
vile. The Saviour, however, revealed Him- 
self to heal, and not to confound. The 
splendor of the Godhead is softened through 
the veil of a sympathizing humanity, and 
the awfulness of holiness is tempered by 
the attractiveness of love. The trembling 
sinner is assured by the voice of compassion, 
when Jesus says unto him, " Fear not." 
And here is the winning power of grace. 
When the guilty soul has found its Saviour, 
it is drawn with invincible attraction to his 
feet. The sense of sin which, in our unen- 
lightened state, removed it far from his 
presence, and made it afraid to look upon 
his beauty, has become the propelling motive 
of its approach. " This man receiveth 
sinners." " He is come to seek and to save 
that which is lost." His position, in the 
centre of our race, is in reference to its 
ruined condition. His work upon earth, of 
righteousness and atonement, is performed 
in behalf of the guilty. His gospel is 
nothing else but a scheme of Divine wisdom 
and love, for the recovery of the fallen. 
His character is made up of the most at- 
tractive sympathy and tenderness. His 
words are sweet and comforting promises to 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN, 207 

the miserable and vile. If man were not 
an apostate from holiness, the religion of 
the cross would not be the faith for his soul. 
If the child of Adam were not sick and 
wounded, the balm of 'the Holy Spirit 
would not be consoling to his heart. It is 
only because the world is confident in its 
self -righteousness, and there is little appreci- 
ation of our real condition in the sight of 
God, that the messengers of peace and am- 
bassadors of Christ have so often to exclaim, 
" Who hath believed our report, and to 
whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" 
I wish you to remark the beautiful arrange- 
ment of the gospel plan for bringing the 
sinner to self-consciousness, and making 
him know the evil of his heart and life. It 
is by the revelation to him of Jesus ; by 
placing the Son of God before him, and 
centering his regard upon his Divine, yet 
human person. It is true that in his office 
of the Reprover of the world of sin, the 
Holy Ghost uses the law as a great instru- 
ment of conviction ; the thunders of Sinai 
awaken in the soul the echoes of condem- 
nation, and the sinner stands guilty by the 
verdict of his own conscience. But if the 
law were to act alone, it could only conduct 



208 IN MEMORIAM. 

to despair. Its lightning would blast; its 
flames consume. The law, therefore, in the 
Spirit's hand, is " the schoolmaster to bring 
us to Christ," and it is by revealing Jesus 
to the convicted soul, that the sense of sin 
is deepened, even while the assurance of 
pardon is conveyed. Think what must 
have been the effect upon the woman who 
was brought to our Lord in the temple, 
accused by those who had taken her in 
crime, and condemned by the law of Moses 
to death, when Jesus, as the Saviour of 
sinners, refusing the office of the judge, 
spoke to her in the accents of compassion, 
and bade her " Go, and sin no more." Did 
not those tones of kindness penetrate a 
heart, which before, perhaps, had been bold 
and callous ? "Was not shame by their com- 
passionate utterances deepened into grief ? 
Was it not the gentleness of that Divine 
presence, and the accents of love from holy 
Hps, that awakened the first feelings of con- 
trition, and bedewed her cheek with the 
scalding tear of penitence ? Can you not 
conceive that from that interview with the 
Redeemer, there went forth an influence of 
Divine grace, powerful over her future life ? 
It was not so much reproof ; it was not in- 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 209 

dignant chiding, and heartless condemna- 
tion, that could have moved her ; but the 
look of Jesus she could not forget ; the 
melting pity of his eye, the tender compas- 
sion of his speech, the forgiving love of his 
whole demeanor, she never could banish 
from her heart. The Christ had entered 
there, with his power to cleanse and to save ; 
and all her hopes and all her desires were 
to Him. If she was saved from her deep 
degradation and crime, it was through that 
personal contact with forgiving holiness to 
which her accusers, armed with the law for 
her destruction, had unwittingly brought 
her. It is this attractive power of Christ's 
presence that we see in our text, using the 
sense of sin, which his miraculous power 
had awakened, and which in its first im- 
pulse of shame and degradation would have 
escaped his gaze, to bind the convicted 
soul to Himself as all its consolation and 
hope; so that it will be his at any cost, 
seeing no other centre of love and happi- 
ness, and only too grateful to be invited, in 
his own tender accents, to " forsake all and 
follow Him." Nor is the experience, my 
hearers, of God's people in our own day 
and generation different. Christ is the 

14 



210 IN MEMORIAM. ' 

great attractor of guilty souls. His own 
prediction and promise is hereby fulfilled : 
" I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will 
draw all men unto me." There is no 
power in the world like this of a personal 
Saviour. You may try, if you please, to 
reform and elevate men by other means. 
You may attempt the force of reason, the 
attractiveness of human affection, the power 
of shame, and the interest of self-love, but 
each and all will fail, except as they are 
combined in heavenly proportion in the 
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the 
stone that God hath laid in Zion, upon 
which to rebuild the ruined temple of 
human nature. But on the other hand, how 
often and how completely successful has 
this " only name under heaven given among 
men " been in the recovery of the lost, and 
the building up, in the new and spiritual 
life, of those whom Satan has cast down. 
How many have " forsaken all and followed 
Him," to find life, and peace, and joy to 
their souls. 

And now, if you have any idea of the 
great central influence of our Christianity, 
which, like the orb in which we live, by a 
great law of spiritual force, attracts ever to 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 211 

itself, you will take pleasure in observing 
how this power acts, in enabling us to cast 
off everything that would keep us from the 
embrace of Mercy, so that of all who are 
born of the Spirit of God and united in 
Him to Christ, the sum of their experience 
may be written, in the words of our text, 
" They forsook all and followed Him." 

(1.) And what, my brethren, at the out- 
set, is more difficult to forsake, than all our 
self -righteousness ? It is this, preeminently, 
that keeps the sinner fronx the Saviour. 
The natural man is full of his own right- 
eousness. He is ignorant that he is an 
offender, or, at the best, has no conception 
of the extent of his departure from the 
commandments of God. And even where 
there has been conviction of guilt, still the 
heart is so " deceitful and desperately 
wicked," that it is ever devising excuses, 
and making pleas in behalf of the offender. 
It is an impossible thing, except by the 
grace and Spirit of God, to bring a man to 
make a full acknowledgment of his trans- 
gression. Some, who propose to come to 
Christ, bring with them the wretched works 
of their own ungodliness, and expect these 
to make no small part of the ground of their 



212 IN MEMORIAM. 

acceptance in the sight of heaven. Minis- 
ters who are called to sick and dying beds, 
and share men's thoughts in their serious 
moments, are often shocked at the wonder- 
ful hold that an opinion of their own worth, 
in some thing or other, has upon the minds 
of many who have sat for years under the 
preaching of the gospel of free grace ; or 
rather, I should say, we would be shocked, 
if, alas ! we did not see so much of the same 
folly in our own hearts. To make a sinner 
know his vileness, and cast from him every 
rag of self-righteousness, nothing save the 
revelation of Christ by the Spirit of Grace 
is sufficient. My hearers, turn your eyes 
upon the crucified Son of God, and learn to 
forsake all opinion of your own merits, while 
you see Him, the only Saviour. It is not 
looking into your own hearts that will ac- 
complish this, so much as the looking to 
Jesus. If you are attracted to his person, 
see his holiness, and understand his work of 
vicarious righteousness and atonement, then 
you will begin to know that all your right- 
eousness is as filthy rags. Then you will 
realize that it is spiritual ^akedness that is 
to be clothed upon with Christ, and utter 
ruin and spiritual death, which, in Him, is 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 213 

to find life eternal ; and so, by the sight of 
his excellency, and works of wisdom and 
love, will you be brought to forsake all self- 
righteousness, and all that you can hope for 
in the way of acceptance and salvation, in 
the simplicity of self-renouncing faith and 
holy, humble trust, to " follow Him." 

(2.) Nor, my hearers, is it more easy for 
the heart of man to forsake all its self-de- 
pendence. It would seem as if this were 
the essence of sin. To " be as gods " was 
the bait held out by Satan to our first par- 
ents ; and self-reliance is the fruit of trans- 
gression. How difficult is it to bring men 
to realize their spiritual weakness ! How 
little do we know of our corruption and 
proneness to err ! What slight sense have 
most men of the force of depravity ! How 
many trust in the firmness of resolution, the 
strength of reason, the effort of their own 
spirit ! Even the children of God have no 
adequate idea of the desperate wickedness 
and deceitfulness of the corrupted heart ; 
and too often forget the needed aid of the 
Holy Ghost. Men are either driven to de- 
spair by the repeated failure of their un- 
aided efforts ; or they are lighted up into 
most dangerous presumption, through the 



21-4 IN MEM0R1AM. 

ignorance that is in them. The voice of 
Christ must be heard inviting to his refuge 
of grace ; offering the strength of his Spirit. 
and saying. " My grace is sufficient for you. 
my strength is made perfect in weakness ; w 
experience must have taught that M we are 
not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as 
of ourselves.'*' before there will be that for- 
saking of all self-dependence, and that simple 
leaning upon the promised aid of the Holy 
Ghost, in which is seen the true following of 
Christ. And it is by the attractions of his 
person, and the gentleness of his invitations, 
that the Saviour seeks to make us strong. 
" Simon, Simon. Satan hath desired to have 
you. that he may sift you as wheat : but I 
have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not." 
• 4 1 will not leave you comfortless. I will 
come to you." It is in the leaning upon 
words of cheer like these, while we forsake 
all hope in our own power, that the true 
following of Christ consists. 

(3.) Nor is self-seeking a thing that, 
without a struggle, is altogether forsaken. 
The outward exhibition of man's sin is that 
he has departed from the true aim of his 
existence, the glorifying God, and is intent 
upon all kinds of lower objects, centering at 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 215 

last in himself. It may be the world, or 
the flesh, that is obeyed ; and the forms of 
the service are ever varying. But the evil 
is, that it is not God who is looked to. It 
is not his honor that men have at heart. 
His kingdom is not that which they seek ; 
but " their own things," in the path of 
wealth, or ambition, or ease, or pleasure. 
However varied the fashion of the shrine, 
the idol is found to bear the stamp of the 
creature ; and himself, not God, is glorified. 
Now it is no outward severing of ourselves 
from the world, that will accomplish a 
change here. It is not the form of the wor- 
ship, but the idolatry itself that is the sin. 
Men may be separated from the world, and 
have an eye to God's glory, and be seeking 
his honor, while outwardly they are mingled 
in the necessary business of the present life. 
On the other hand, the monastery and the 
hermitage will not exclude worldliness and 
self -worship. Daniel glorified God while he 
was at the head of the government of Baby- 
lon ; and Jerome confessed that the world, 
the flesh, and the devil followed him with 
increased power into the solitudes of the 
wilderness. It is, my hearers, nothing but 
the grace of Jesus, drawing out our souls in 



216 IN MEMORIAM. 

devotion to Him, that can cure any man of 
self-seeking. The more we see Him by- 
faith, the more constantly shall we follow 
Him, " forsaking all " for his sake, whether 
our lot be seclusion and retirement, or we be 
surrounded by the crowd of men, and feel 
the hourly pressure of public care. The 
only thing is, our hearts must go forth to 
our heavenly Friend, and his glory must be 
before all else, in our regard. 

(4.) And can this be done without the 
forsaking, through grace, of that most dif- 
ficult of all things to surrender, our self- 
will ? Many, brethren, will be ready to 
give up property and time and outward ser- 
vice, but God demands the heart, and He re- 
quires all the heart. Nothing must be kept 
back ; the sacrifice must be entire. Every 
thought must be brought into captivity to 
the obedience of Christ. Self-will is the 
darling of the soul, which must be placed 
entire upon the altar, if the service is to be 
complete. All sin in its essence is this, 
that we oppose the will of God ; and the 
heights of holiness are reached, when the 
renewed soul is brought through grace into 
complete and absolute submission, so that 
God's will is ours, in all things. If, then, 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 217 

we would follow Jesus, there is nothing we 
must so much renounce and abhor, as our 
own will. And this, which cannot be, but 
by grace, shall be accomplished in us by the 
Holy Spirit, as we learn to lore Christ more. 
You know what it is, through the force of 
human affection, to have your will blended 
with that of a friend. Now God has placed 
beside you his own dear Son, to be to you 
" a friend that sticketh closer than a 
brother ; " and it is by drawing near to 
Him, communing wdth Him in love, hav- 
ing a constant intercourse wdth Him in 
prayer and Scripture and other means of 
grace, tasting the delights of his compan- 
ionship in the Spirit, that your will is, 
through the grace of the Holy Ghost, to be 
conformed to his will. Love is the parent 
of obedience. " If ye love me," saith our 
Lord, " keep my commandments ; " the in- 
creasing affection will make those command- 
ments " not grievous ; " and even where the 
Divine will opposes ours in the most sen- 
sitive parts of our natures, and goes en- 
tirely contrary to our most cherished de- 
sires, the excellency of Christ's presence 
will be so great, and the beauty of the 
King's countenance so attractive, and the 



218 IN MEMORIAM. 

sweetness of the Master's communion so 
precious, that we will forsake all and follow 
Him. 

Such, my hearers, is the spirit of our re- 
ligion. Such is the character of the service 
which Christ, standing in our midst, seeks 
at our hands. If we would be his; the re- 
sponse of our hearts, through renewing, 
grace, must be full and ready. ' We must 
" count all things but loss, for the excellency 
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord," 
and with our faith resting on his work, and 
the gaze of our hope fastened upon his re- 
ward, we must say, — 

" Jesus, I my cross have taken, 

All to leave and follow Thee ; 
Naked, poor, despised, forsaken, 

Thou, from hence, my all shalt be. 
Perish, every fond ambition, 

All I've sought, or hoped, or known ; 
Yet, how rich is my condition, 

God and heaven are still my own." 

In giving up all for Jesus, we receive all 
in Him. What we forsake is that which 
would ruin us. What we receive is that 
which constitutes our bliss. Permit me 
then, my hearers, to ask how it is with you ? 
How have you chosen ? 

Think what Jesus forsook for you, and 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 219 

say what are you forsaking for Him ? Think 
not that you can render Him a half service ; 
the demand is for the surrender of all : all 
self -righteousness, self-dependence, self-seek- 
ing, self-will : all, in short, that is not of 
God, but of the world. Who among you, 
my friends, will now be so attracted by the 
loveliness of Christ, who has offered you, in 
the gospel, to be your friend and Master, 
that you will " forsake all and follow Him ? " 
You only forsake a world which will soon 
forsake you, and take in exchange One who 
will never leave you. May God enable you 
to make the decision of the Apostle in the 
text, and " follow Christ" to his eternal 
kingdom and glory. 



AARON STANDING BETWEEN THE DEAD 
AND THE LIVING. 

"And Aaron stood between the dead and the living, and 
the plague was stayed." — Numbers xvi. 48. 

What a subject for the pencil of a mas- 
ter ! The picture is glowing with life in 
the graphic sketch of Moses. The camp of 
Israel is the scene. An angry crowd of 
murmurers have gathered around the law- 
giver ; they complain of the destruction of 
Korah and his company, for rebellion 
against the Lord. Excited by their sup- 
posed wrongs, they swell in noisy tumult, 
and, like a sea of troubled waters, pour 
themselves, from all parts of the encamp- 
ment, towards the tents of the Levites. In 
the centre of the picture stands the taber- 
nacle, with the pillar of cloud resting above 
it ; and soon all eyes are attracted there, 
for " the cloud covered it, and the glory of 
the Lord appeared.*' Flashes of light shot 
forth in anger, and announced the Lord 
rising up to judgment. " And Moses and 
Aaron came before the tabernacle of the 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 221 

congregation;" but ere there is time to 
contrast the calm dignity of these inspired 
leaders with "the madness of the people" 
arrayed against them, there is a voice from 
the cloud. " And the Lord spake with 
Moses saying, Get you up from among this 
congregation, that I may consume them in 
a minute. And they fell upon their faces." 
They felt that prayer was their only re- 
source. Justice was ready to break forth, 
and mercy must be sought to throw herself 
in the path of deserved vengeance. And 
most significant is the conduct of Moses ; 
he does not only intercede, though his pros- 
tration in the dust is the attitude of the 
mediator, but he commands that to be done 
which, by showing upon what acceptable in- 
tercession for the guilty can alone be based, 
at once makes his mediation successful. 
" And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, 
and put fire therein from off the altar, and 
put incense, and go quickly unto the con- 
gregation, and make an atonement for them ; 
for there is wrath gone out from the Lord, 
the plague is begun. And Aaron took as 
Moses commanded, and ran into the midst 
of the congregation ; and behold the plague 
was begun among the people ; and he put 



222 IN MEM OB I AM. 

on incense, and made an atonement for the 
people. And he stood between the dead 
and the living, and the plague was stayed." 
What a scene, if some master should por- 
tray it on the canvas ! the surging and 
angry mob, struck by the vengeance of 
God ! their proud waves of opposition to 
his will, stayed by the angel of death ! 1 
the strong man, stricken to the earth, 
writhing in anguish, exchanging in a mo- 
ment the shout of tumult for the feeble 
sigh of death ! women clinging in agony 
to the stiffened arm, upon which, in health, 
they had leaned for support ; looking with 
unutterable grief into the face, which a mo- 
ment since glowed with animation, now 
fixed and cold in death, the flashing eye 
dull, the scowl of passion gone forever, the 
fierce countenance stamped with the seal of 
pain ; aye, and while they gazed, amid the 
tears of horror which fell upon their dead, 
feeling the icy hand of the destroyer on 
their own hearts, and hearing the summons 
to eternity, sounding through their souls ! 
children clinging to the insensible forms of 
the mothers who bore them ; or themselves 
swooning with a sudden collapse of the 
powers of their infant life ! What riot of 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 223 

death ; what a field of slaughter ; what 
wide-spread desolation ! the camp which was 
full of irrepressible activity, is now the city 
of the dead ; and like lava poured from the 
seething crater of a volcano, the stream of 
death rushes on, over all that is strong, and 
noble, and lovely ! and just by the last suf- 
ferer, as with contortion of limb and pale 
hue of agonized countenance, he embraces 
his sudden doom, stands the high priest 
clothed in the vestments of his office, with 
mitre on his brow, and jeweled breast-plate 
girded on his bosom ; the bells of his robe 
shaken hi his haste, and his face lifted to 
heaven, with a pleading look for mercy, as 
he sprinkles the blood of atonement, and 
swings the censer of prayer. I can almost 
see him, as he rises amid that heap of slain, 
the sole barrier to the wrath of God, the 
only hope of the stricken camp. What a 
moment of thrilling interest, as " he stood 
between the dead and the living, and the 
plague was stayed ! " Let the scene be en- 
graved upon your minds, for it is full of 
instruction ; it is a parable of grace, it is a 
type of redemption by the Son of God. 

The camp of Israel, on this occasion of 
high-handed rebellion " against Moses and 



224 IN MEMORIAM. 

against God," is no inapt representation of 
a world of sinners, in arms against God and 
his law ; opposed in heart to his holy en- 
actments, leagued together to resist his will ; 
and only the more outrageously angry where 
the violation of his commands has brought 
down judgment, and they suffer under the 
stroke of the Divine rod. " Our God is a* 
consuming fire ; " He " cannot look upon 
iniquity," and " will by no means clear the 
guilty." " Though hand join in hand, the 
wicked shall not go unpunished," and the 
wrath of God is revealed from heaven 
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness 
of men. " No sooner did sin enter our 
world, than the plague began." Nothing 
but the mediation of the Prophet " like 
unto Moses," the Son of God himself, can 
avert the " wrath " of the All-holy. " The 
Lord," saith the prophet Isaiah, " saw that 
there was no man, and wondered that 
there was no intercessor ; therefore his own 
arm brought salvation unto Him, and his 
righteousness it sustained Him." As Moses 
was sent for the deliverance of Israel, and 
made the mediator between Jehovah and 
their guilty tribes, so " God so loved the 
world as to give his only begotten Son," 



REV, CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 225 

and there is " one mediator between God 
and men, the man Christ Jesus." But his 
intercession is not the pleading of cries and 
tears and entreaties. It is not that He lies 
prostrate before the mercy-seat, imploring 
compassion. His mediation is based upon 
his atonement ; the intercession on the 
right hand of God is the result and con- 
summation of Christ's priestly work upon 
the cross. His plea for the guilty, by 
which He would avert the stroke of justice 
and turn aside the death which is the 
penalty of sin, is his atoning sacrifice. He 
stands, the " High Priest, passed into the 
heavens, " and cries with a voice which finds 
an echo in the will and purpose of the God- 
head who planned redemption, " Deliver 
from going down into the pit : I have found 
a ransom." And thus, my brethren, may 
the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ 
towards his rebellious but blood-bought 
people, while, as their great High Priest, He 
ever liveth to make intercession, be most 
truly described in the words of our text : 
" He stood between the dead and the living, 
and the plague was stayed." He is the 
only effectual barrier, placed by the ap- 
pointment of God between the out-flashing 

15 



226 IN MEMORIAM. 

fire of consuming justice, and the unpro- 
tected head of the guilty sinner. Wrath is 
" gone forth," the " plague is begun ; " the 
deadly effects of sin may be seen on every 
side — suffering, sorrow, disease, death, eter- 
nal ruin ; a flood of wrath is pouring its 
fiery billows upon a fallen earth. Terrible 
are the ravages of sin ; fearful the destruc- 
tion of body and soul. It is a very carni- 
val of death, and there is no stay or hin- 
drance to the desolation, except where the 
great High Priest swings his censer, and 
with the blood of atonement sprinkles and 
protects his believing Church. Could your 
spiritual vision be enlightened, you would 
see the whole theatre of this world surren- 
dered to the tragedy of death, except where 
the true Aaron lifts his cross, and cries, in 
the voice of loving welcome, " Look unto 
me and be ye saved, all the ends of the 
earth." " Neither is there salvation in any 
other : for there is none other name under 
heaven given among men, whereby we must 
be saved." 

Now I would ask you to-day, brethren, to 
look upon this picture. O, that I had the 
power to delineate, with such shades and 
colors as would fix your adoring faith upon 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 227 

the Son of God, the death of the sinner and 
the intervention of the Saviour ! It is a 
theme not only to fire the fancy, but to take 
captive the heart. 

First, I ask you to look upon the dark 
background of the scene ; but you must not 
be content to gaze as a mere spectator ; it 
is your own portrait, with that of all your 
fellow-sinners of Adam's race, that is drawn 
by the pencil of the Spirit. I stand in this 
pulpit to deal with realities, in which you 
are all personally concerned. And, my 
friends, there is nothing so real, or in which 
you are so deeply interested, as the rebel- 
lious attitude of the human race toward 
God. To one who is not too entirely en- 
grossed with the act of sin, in which he is 
engaged with his fellows, to have any regard 
to God and our relations to Him, and espe- 
cially to all who are instructed from the 
pages of God's Word, the mass of mankind 
must appear as a great tumultuous mob of 
opposers of the Divine will. Individual 
transgression combines, with no other order 
than that of hostility to the Lord, in a world- 
wide antagonism to holiness and truth. 
With will perverted, and passions excited 
against the Divine law, from all the hab- 



228 IN MEM0R1AM. 

itations of the sons of men there pours forth 
a crowd of murmurers against God. The 
authority of his commandment has for them 
no power ; the indications of his providence, 
which, like the pillar of cloud resting above 
the camp, maybe read in all around us, can 
neither awe nor restrain them. Self-asser- 
tion, persistency in doing their own pleasure, * 
and discontent at any of the checks or judg- 
ments of Jehovah mark, and combine in 
one league and fellowship of sin, all the 
children of Adam. Various tribes and fam- 
ilies, with great diversity of individual bent 
and choice, unite in the world-wide protest 
against the sovereign dominion of God. 
What a spectacle must this apostate earth 
present to the angels and hierarchies of 
heaven, as, from the battlements of the 
skies, they view the rebellion and disorder of 
our race ! What a view must be spread be- 
fore the omniscient eye of God, as, from his 
throne of glory, He inspects the work of his 
hands ! " They are corrupt, they have done 
abominable works, there is none that doeth 
good. The Lord looked down upon the 
children of men, to see if there were any 
that did understand, and seek God. They 
are all gone aside, they are all together be- 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 229 

come filthy: there is none that doeth good, 
no, not one." Can we wonder, that there 
is " wrath gone out from the Lord ; " and 

that ;; the plague," which is engendered of 
siii, and which ends in eternal death, " is 
begun?" My fellow sinners! are you not 
conscious of that plague ? Do you not see 
it in the disorders of society, in the social 
evils, which everywhere mark the habitation 
of men : in the wars, the discord, the injus- 
tice, the rapacity of the human race ? Is it 
not tracked by the ravages of disease, the 
woes of the bereaved, the darkness and cor- 
ruption of the grave ? Especially do you 
not recognize its fearful taint upon your 
own soul ? Which of you is without sin ? 
Who does not groan under corruption and 
spiritual death ? If any who are yet unre- 
newed by the Spirit of Grace, are not awak- 
ened to the terrors of their condition, this 
very insensibility is the most, aggravated 
symptom of the disease ; " conscience is de- 
filed ; " the mind is wrapped in the gloom 
of death. Alas for us, if only the whelming 
judgments of God awaken us to our peril; 
if the besom of destruction sweep us away, 
ere we have been aroused to see the only, 
but sure deliverance ! 



230 IN MEMORIAM. 

Second. " Consider," saith St. Paul to 
the Hebrews, " the Apostle and High Priest 
of our profession, Christ Jesus." It is his 
presence in the foreground of the picture, 
standing like Aaron, "between the dead 
and the living," which gives all the light 
and beauty to the scene. Let St. John 
describe to you how the colors are blended 
in the glory of his person. " I saw seven 
golden candlesticks ; and in the midst of 
the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son 
of Man, clothed with a garment down to the 
foot, and girt about the paps with a golden 
girdle. His head and his hairs were white 
like wool, as white as snow ; and his eyes 
were as a flame of fire ; and his feet like 
unto fine brass, as if they burned in a 
furnace ; and his voice as the sound of many 
waters. And He had in his right hand 
seven stars : and out of his mouth went a 
sharp two-edged sword : and his counte- 
nance was as the sun shineth in his strength." 
It is this true Aaron, standing in the midst 
of his blood-bought Church, which gives to 
any of the sons of men the life of grace and 
salvation. The " living " live in Him who 
separates them from the dead. His person 
is the only line of demarcation ; his work of 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 231 

atonement the sole ground of deliverance. 
He Himself is the door and the way, by 
which every believing soul " passes from 
death unto life." It is his ever-living inter- 
cession, which secures the believing Church 
from the doom of the guilty world. " He 
is," saith the Apostle, " the Mediator of the 
New Testament, that by means of death, 
for the redemption of the transgressions 
that were under the first testament, they 
which are called might receive the promise 
of eternal inheritance." And " Once, in the 
end of the world, hath He appeared, to put 
away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." All 
that was prefigured by Aaron and his priest- 
hood, the smoking altar and burning incense 
and sprinkled blood of the Jewish ritual, is 
accomplished in the atonement and inter- 
cession of the Lord Jesus Christ. The law 
by Moses detects the guilt of man, and pro- 
claims the wrath of God; unable itself to 
" justify the ungodly," it calls aloud to the 
High Priest, " Make an atonement ; " and it 
is not, and cannot be, until He stands " be- 
tween the dead and the living," that " the 
plague is stayed." Now, my brethren, I 
would ask you, Do you receive this ? Con- 
scious of the wrath, which is justly gone 



232 IN MEMORIAM. 

forth against your transgressions-, what is 
your hope of deliverance ? Death is all 
around. The strong and the weak fall be- 
fore his scythe ; what will you do when 
God riseth up ? and when He yisiteth, what 
will you answer Hirn ? O, rny brother, ere, 
amid the ranks of the dying, you sink into 
eternal night, I would take you by the hand, 
I would whisper in your ear, " Behold the 
Lamb of God;" I would point your dim 
and glazing eye to the great form of the 
High Priest of our profession, as He stands 
" between the dead and the living," as He 
lifts the cross as the symbol of hope, and 
points to heaven as the throne of his medi- 
ation, the Holy of holies from which He has 
rent the veil, that there may be free access, 
in recovered life, to the presence of a recon- 
ciled God. I would solemnly press home 
upon each one of you this inquiry, and pray 
God by his Spirit to carry it to your heart, 
Upon which side of the death line are you 
standing ? It is marked out by the far- 
reaching shadow of the cross. Here, where 
rebellious, murmuring crowds of uncon- 
verted shiners are lying in the cold embrace 
of spiritual death, the sentence is, " Con- 
demned already ; " M and this is the condem- 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 233 

nation, that light is come into the world, 
and men loved darkness rather than light, 
because their deeds were evil." And there, 
" passed from death unto life," with the 
great High Priest between them and wrath, 
swinging his censer, and sprinkling his 
blood of atonement ; there, where the Spirit, 
descending from the cross on which Imman- 
uel hung, quickened, by the new birth from 
above, the souls bought with blood ; there 
is breathed, as in the sweet voices of the 
winds of heaven, the assurance penetrating 
every heart with which the Spirit bears wit- 
ness, " There is now no condemnation to 
them which are in Christ Jesus." Is that 
assurance yours, as you exercise faith in the 
Son of God ? Do you rest only on the work 
of Christ ? Has his blood cleansed you 
from all sin ? My dear hearers, I am in- 
quiring after a fact, the result of which is, 
that the plague of sin is stayed ; stayed in 
its power now, and in its fearful conse- 
quences hereafter. Christ stands to-day 
between the dead and the living ; his face 
averted from those, his countenance of love 
beaming upon these. And as his censer 
swings, and the day of his grace is not 
ended, I ask, On which side of his person 



234 IN MEMORIAM. 

and work do you stand ? are you with, or 
against the Son of God ? are you sheltered 
by his cross, or more deeply condemned by 
his rejected sacrifice ? " Between the liv- 
ing and the dead," He will stand on that 
great day of judgment, when, to those on 
his right hand He shall say, "Come, ye 
blessed ; " and to those on his left hand, 
who sought Him not on earth, " Depart, ye 
cursed, into everlasting fire." Then will 
the states of life and death be fixed forever, 
and by Christ will the sentence proceed e 



1/ 



JESUS* IN THE MIDST OF THOSE GATH- 
EKED IN HIS NAME. 

"Where two or three are gathered together in my name, 
there am I in the midst of them." — Matthew xviii. 20. 

The presence of God is the life of the 
universe. To his rational creatures the lov- 
ing consciousness of that presence is the 
highest joy. The curse of guilt is, that it 
blinds to his glory, and makes sinners trem- 
ble at the nearness of Jehovah. The awful 
judgment denounced against those that 
" know not God and obey not the gospel of 
our Lord Jesus Christ " is, that they shall 
be "punished with everlasting destruction 
from the presence of the Lord, and from the 
glory of his power." The consummation of 
glory in the " New Jerusalem " is, that 
" the tabernacle of God is with men, and 
He will dwell with them, and they shall be 
his people, and God himself shall be with 
them, and be their God." With this hope, 
the hearts of the children of grace are full ; 
to this they look forward, when in the ear- 
nestness of faith they exclaim -*- in response 
to the promise of their Lord, " Surely I come 



236 IN MEM OKI AM. 

quickly" — "Amen. Even so come, Lord 
Jesus." 

But there are, my brethren, for believ- 
ing hearts, foretastes of that joy, before the 
Lord " shall come to be glorified in his 
saints and admired in all them that believe." 
" The kingdom of heaven is within you," 
and " among you," and while the Church is 
in the wilderness, surrounded by enemies, 
exposed to trials, and toiling in pilgrimage 
to the Canaan of rest, the pillar of fire and 
cloud is before her, and the promise to 
every trusting heart is sure. " My presence 
shall go with thee." The removal of guilt 
from believers in Christ, so that they may 
not fear the presence of God, and the exter- 
mination of corruption, that they may enjoy 
his communion, is that work of grace which, 
begun here, shall be perfected in glory. 
Only through redemption could it be accom- 
plished for sinful creatures. Our first par- 
ents, after their transgression, when they 
" heard the voice of the Lord God walking 
in the garden in the cool of the day," " hid 
themselves from the presence of the Lord," 
amongst the trees of the garden ; and ever 
since, through all the generations of Adam's 
corrupt race, the manifestation of God to 
the wicked has been a " consuming fire." 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 237 

But with " a Daysman," who can lay his 
hand upon both God and the sinner, and 
turn away alike the righteous anger of the 
one, and the guilty fear of the other, " A 
new and living way is opened " unto us, to 
the presence of the Lord, and " through 
Him, we have access by one Spirit, unto the 
Father." " God was in 'Christ reconciling 
the world unto Himself," and his presence 
is now indeed the life and joy of his people. 
The realization of that presence by faith, 
and the communion which follows, while we 
" walk with God," and " sit in heavenly 
places," and " have fellowship with the 
Father and with his Son Jesus Christ," are 
the privileges of those who are " born of 
God," and " made near, by the blood of the 
cross." 

The text shows us one form of this inter- 
course, and I desire by God's grace to dwell 
upon it, at this first Lenten service, so that 
it may be to us, at all those meetings for 
prayer, a reality and a delight. "Where 
two or three are gathered together in my 
name, there am I in the midst of them." It 
is the promise to social worship ; the sure 
word of Scripture, upon which we rest 
united prayer. With that beautiful fitness 



238 rN MEMORIAM. 

which marks our Liturgy, this assurance of 
Christ, enlarged, by the incorporation of the 
promise of the verse preceding the text, into 
a pledge of " granting our requests," is 
made in the language of St. Chrysostom the 
closing plea of our " morning and evening 
prayer ; " and could we possess our hearts 
with the truth of this declaration, our meet- 
ings in the congregations would be occa- 
sions of joy, while, by faith, we beheld Je- 
sus " in our midst ; " and " of his fullness, re- 
ceived grace for grace." To aid us in this, 
let us consider the blessing that is here 
made sure to all believing hearts. " Where 
two or three are gathered together in my 
name." The numbers assembling are, you 
will notice, made the smallest possible, that 
there may always be the faith of acceptance, 
where more than one of God's people unite 
for prayer. Not only in the crowded tem- 
ple, but with the " two or three," which was 
Christ's chosen number, on several occasions 
when, on earth, He was pleased to admit his 
disciples to special nearness to Himself — 
will He be present in worship. 

It is not the place, or the ceremony, or 
the mode of prayer, or the person conduct- 
ing it, that ensures the blessing. But the 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 239 

promise is to Christ's people gathered in 
his name, — whether assembled on the 
mountain-side, or in rocks and caves and 
catacombs, or on the bosom of the great 
deep, or in the upper chambers, or any- 
where throughout this grand temple of 
earth which is all dedicated to God ; with 
its canopy of blue, and its star-studded dome, 
and its furniture of hill and dale ; with its 
warbling of feathered songsters, and the rich 
melody of human voices ; with its music of 
winds and waves, its sounding cataracts, and 
its yet more impressive silence ; with its 
splendor of sunshine, putting to shame the 
flickering light of men, and its deep solemn 
shade of mountain and forest ; with its con- 
secrated altar, the blood-sprinkled heart of 
redeemed man, and its priests, those whom 
Christ hath breathed upon by his Spirit, 
and "made kings and priests unto God," 
through faith in his name. 

It is to believing, praying spirits every- 
where, that the promise is sealed ; only it 
must be in Christ's name that they come, 
and in Jesus that they trust, and on Him 
that they depend, and Him that they seek, 
and through Him that they ask ; and the 
fullness of his grace will be there, as sure as 



240 IN MEM OBI AM. 

when, from the magnificent temple at Jeru- 
salem, the glory of the Shekinah burst forth 
on the day of dedication, from the Holy of 
Holies, so that king and priests and Le- 
vites fled from the present Jehovah. To 
the Samaritan who met Him at the well, 
our Lord's own word was, " Woman, be- 
lieve me, the hour cometh, when ye shall 
neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jeru- 
salem, worship the Father. The hour com- 
eth, and now is, when the true worshippers 
shall worship the Father in spirit and in 
truth." 

Everywhere is God's temple, if there are 
only hearts there that burn with love, and 
send up in faith, through the one Mediator, 
the blood-sprinkled sacrifice of prayer and 
praise. Your care, when you come together, 
beloved, should not be only for the arrange- 
ment of the outward sanctuary — though this 
should surely be decent, and expressive, as 
far as may be, of your reverent love for your 
Lord — but your great anxiety should be, that 
" in the name of Jesus," ye are come ; that 
your need of Him has brought you to seek 
his presence ; and your faith in his person, 
and work, and atonement, and intercession, 
is lively and active. 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 241 

We should all ask ourselves, brethren, as 
we take our place in any assembly of God's 
people, Why am I here ? what are the mo- 
tives that constrain me ? what are the ends 
that I have in view ? what are the means 
that I am now about to employ ? Is it 
" Christ," who is Himself the answer to 
every question that I can make of my heart ? 
Sought by Him, saved by Him, consecrated 
to Him, desiring to live to Him, and to com- 
mune with Him, have I come ? Do I say 
with Jacob, at Bethel, " This is none other 
than the house of God, and this is the gate 
of heaven " ? Is it any wonder, that Christ 
is absent from our churches and our ap- 
pointed times of prayer, when there are so 
many false and sinful motives which as- 
semble those who call themselves his peo- 
ple ? Can you be surprised that He does 
not sit in the gay circle of fashion, or mani- 
fest Himself in love to the worldly and in- 
different ? Can you wonder that they who 
come only from habit, or who are dragged 
thither by custom, do not meet the King in 
his courts ? That they who bring with 
them hearts full charged with care and 
pleasure, that they who come to gaze idly 
at their fellows, or converse pleasantly with 

16 



242 IN MEMORIAM. 

companions, or sit in the seat of the scorner, 
or sleep, it may be, with the indolent, or en- 
gage in anything else rather than reverent 
worship and communion, find no blessing, 
where, indeed, they claim no Scriptural 
promise ? Remember, it is not outward 
profession, which a heart-searching God 
will ever be satisfied with. " In the name 
of Christ," does not mean only in the garb 
of disciples, disguised, it may be, as Chris- 
tians, while in truth we are wholly the 
world's. It does not mean with his name 
upon our lips, or in our prayer books, while 
our hearts are set on idols ; but it implies 
the sincere and humble approach of sinners, 
who feel their need of the Saviour, and with 
a sense of guilt, and faith in his blood and 
righteousness, come to plead out before God 
the blessings of redemption. 

How is it to-day, my beloved hearers ? 
How have you come up at this Lenten call 
to the house of God ? Search your hearts ; 
see to your motives. Have you real petitions 
to bring ? have you personal application to 
make to the King, as He sitteth upon his 
throne, and holdeth forth to his blood- 
bought Church, the Spouse and Beloved of 
his heart, the golden sceptre and acceptance ? 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 243 

If so, then let me aid you this morning in 
obtaining a view of the blessing which is 
covenanted to you. It is such, indeed, as 
heaven itself affords no greater. It is the 
foretaste of the bliss of saints ; it is parti- 
cipation in the joys of angels, who stand 
around the throne, and see the face of God. 
Of the " two or three, gathered together in 
his name," Jesus says, " I am in the midst 
of them." He, with whom his people de- 
parted from this earth are, in paradise ; He, 
before whom angels, " thousand thousands 
minister," and " ten thousand times ten 
thousand, stand;" He is with us, not seen 
by eyes of sense, but near to the gaze and 
grasp of faith. Suppose it were otherwise, 
and that, with mortal vision, we could see 
the King in his beauty." How impressive, 
how awful, would be the sight ! Such a 
vision we shall surely have, when He shall 
" come in the clouds, and all the holy angels 
with Him." 

How soon that may be, we know not . 
what surpassing beauty shall there break 
upon our raptured sight, we cannot con- 
ceive. If we are the sons of God, " We 
know, indeed, that when He shall appear 
we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him 



244 IN MEMORIAM. \ 

as He is." But now, " having riot seen, his 
believing people love Him," and his presence 
and communion are foretastes of glory. 
Christ was present once, on earth, with his 
disciples, not only in his time of humilia- 
tion, and during his life and ministry, as 
He passed through the world of sorrow to 
the cross ; but after He was " declared to 
be the son of God with power by the resur- 
rection from the dead," and just before He 
" ascended up on high, leading captivity cap- 
tive." Let us think what that presence 
was, and we shall come to know something 
more definite of this. 

Open the gospels, and read the narrative 
of the life of Jesus, from Bethlehem to Cal- 
vary, and you will learn much of the bless- 
ing of which I am speaking. You will see 
unfolded in daily activity, amid the affairs 
of the world, and in the companionship of 
men, the true humanity of the Son of God. 
His character is delineated, by the touch of 
inspiration, in the atmosphere of light and 
goodness that surrounds Him. His heart 
will be opened to you, in his words of love 
and deeds of benevolence. His tenderness 
and compassion will be recognized in his 
sighs and groans ; and his overflowing syni- 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 245 

pathy, in his tears. " Never man spake 
like this man." " He receiveth sinners." 
"Behold how He loved!" "I find no 
fault in Him." " Truly, this was a right- 
eous man." These are testimonies, not of 
friends, but of enemies ; of the officers sent 
to take Him, of the Pharisees, of Pilate, of 
the centurion who was in command at his 
crucifixion : what then must have been the 
judgment and appreciation of his disciples ? 
of Peter, who confessed Him so nobly ; of the 
sons of Zebedee, who would sit on his right 
hand and his left ; of Matthew, who left 
all, and followed Him ; of Mary, who sat at 
his feet ; of John, who leaned on his breast ? 
What a friendship was that which their 
privileged souls had with Jesus ! How must 
they have rejoiced in his love, feasted on 
his words of wisdom, rested in his sym- 
pathy, and been guided and cheered by his 
intercourse ! You remember how they 
shrank from the possibility of losing Him. 
The grief that surcharged their souls is re- 
flected to us in those words of their Lord, 
" None of you asketh me, Whither goest 
Thou ? But because I have said these things 
unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart." 
11 Let not your heart be troubled, neither 



246 IN ME MORI AM. 

let it be afraid." They could not ask, for 
they could not bear the thought of his de- 
parture. 

They could not endure that all that sweet 
intercourse should come to an end ; that 
those eyes, so full of love, should rest upon 
them no longer, whose one look drove the 
shining Peter to " weep bitterly ;" that that 
strong yet gentle hand, which had plucked 
them from many a danger, and touched 
them in many a blessing, and grasped them 
ever with the warm pressure of the truest 
friendship, should be cold in death ; that that 
tongue, which had spoken words of invita- 
tion and warning and promise, which had 
cheered them amid sorrow, and counseled 
them in danger, and bid them not tremble 
at death, should be hushed ; that those feet, 
which had " gone about doing good," should 
be pierced and still, and bound with the 
grave-clothes ; that He, who was the centre 
of their love and unity, their Master and 
Teacher and Lord, should be taken from 
them,' and they orphans, in a world of trial, 
should be without his fellowship and con- 
verse. This was a thing hard to be borne, 
and the shrinking of heart at the thought 
shows us what a companionship was that of 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 247 

Jesus when on earth, a wayfarer, He dwelt 
with men. 

But this was before his passion : turn a 
few pages in the sacred story, and read 
again. What glimpses of joy are in those 
forty days of his sojourn, after his resurrec- 
tion ! He had now put on his spiritual body : 
that in which He pleads for us, before the 
throne on high ; with which He ascended 
from Bethany, and with which " his feet 
shall stand again on the Mount of Olives." 
It seemed a recovered loss, and this gave 
greater zest to the universal joy. When 
He revealed Himself to Magdalen, it was 
no wonder that she would have touched 
Him, since she knew not yet the higher 
blessing of his kingdom. When He " met," 
with his " All hail," those women returning 
from the sepulchre, it is not strange that 
" they held Him by the feet and worshipped 
Him." Those two disciples on the way to 
Emmaus — it camiot surprise you that their 
"hearts burned within them, while He talked 
with them by the way, and opened to them 
the Scriptures." What joy must have 
taken the place of the first " affright," 
when He stood in the midst of the disciples, 
and showed them his hands and his feet, 



248 IN MEMORIAM. 

and said, " Peace be unto you." Can you 
marvel that Thomas cried out, at the 
sight of Him, " My Lord and my God ! " 
Do you not expect that John shall know 
Him at once by his voice, as He calls to 
them from the sea-shore ? and how like 
Peter it was, to cast himself into the sea 
in order to reach Him, as soon as He was 
recognized. And who shall describe the 
joy of that assemblage of brethren on the 
" mountain in Galilee," where " Jesus had 
appointed them " a meeting ? or who shall 
express the interest and love with which 
they hung upon his words, as He " spake of 
the things pertaining to the kingdom of 
God"? 

Here, in all these scenes, may you learn 
something of the preciousness of the pres- 
ence of Jesus with his people. Yet He 
told them plainly that higher blessings were 
in store. " Touch me not," He said to the 
loving Mary, " f or I have not yet ascended 
to my Father." " It is expedient for you 
that I go away : for if I go not away, the 
Comforter will not come unto you ; but if I 
depart, I will send Him unto you," was his 
word of consolation to his mourning disci- 
ples ; and they understood, in time, how this 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 249 

was true, when his pleading at the mercy- 
seat procured for them the Holy Ghost, by 
whom He is present with his Church in all 
ages and at all times and places, with the 
same tenderness, and nearness, and compas- 
sion, and personal regard, which distin- 
guished Him when He was on earth ; prov- 
ing that He is indeed for all his saints Jesus 
Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for- 
ever. 

Now, brethren, this is the testimony of 
the disciple whom He loved, by which He 
would win us to the like enjoyment of 
a never absent Lord : " That which was 
from the beginning, which we have heard, 
which we have seen with our eyes, which 
we have looked upon, and our hands have 
handled, of the Word of life, declare we 
unto you, that ye also may have fellowship 
with us : and truly our fellowship is with 
the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." 

Yes, my friends, that fellowship with God 
in Christ is ours, that presence of Emmanuel 
is with us still. Not more surely to- the 
disciples in the upper room, or upon the 
Sea of Tiberias, or on the mountain in Gal- 
ilee, or at Bethany or Capernaum, was Jesus 
present, than " where two or three are 



250 IN MEMOR1AM. 

gathered together in his name," He is now 
"in the midst of them." 

He is here to-day, if but two hearts 
among us are humbly waiting for his pres- 
ence. He is here, not bodily, not visibly, 
not in the sacrament, or upon the altar, as 
some say ; not in one part of the church, 
more than in another ; not in the church at 
all, as a building set apart and consecrated 
for any such purpose, for " God dwelleth 
not in temples made with hands ; heaven is 
his throne, and earth is his footstool ; " but 
truly, and by covenant promise, present by 
the Holy Ghost, and in the hearts of his re- 
generate and believing people. " Know ye 
not," saith the Apostle, "that ye are the 
temple of God, and that the Spirit of God 
dwelleth in you ? " It is by the Holy 
Spirit whom He hath sent, that the Saviour, 
who is in his humanity before the throne 
of heaven, yet dwells in the midst of his 
Church on earth. That Spirit is " the 
Spirit of Christ," as " taking of the things 
of Christ and shewing them unto us." It 
is his office, as " the Comforter," to repre- 
sent Christ ; to be his Vicar and Vicegerent, 
to bring his people near to Him, and Him 
to them, that He may " dwell in their hearts 
by faith." 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 251 

God, the trinity in unity, Father, Son, 
and Holy Ghost, is indeed everywhere 
present. He fills heaven and earth, He fills 
all things. But as Christ, the Son of 
the Father, in the economy of mediation, 
bears a peculiar relation, as Brother and 
Saviour, to sinful, but redeemed men who 
believe in Him, so the Holy Ghost, as the 
Spirit of Christ, in addition to that Divine 
and essential omnipresence which He pos- 
sesses as one with Father and Son, bears a 
special and official relation to the believing 
Church. He fills it with his presence, as the 
Spirit of Grace ; and in regard to that pres- 
ence, as truly his own, Christ himself de- 
clares, " I will not leave you comfortless, I 
will come to you." This presence, beloved, 
of Christ, by his Spirit in our hearts, let us 
ever prize ; and above all things seek. 

When you gather in the name of Jesus, 
be not satisfied unless He thus be with you ; 
and He will be, He is most surely, when 
your faith is lively, when your hearts are 
knit together in love, when spiritual and 
Scriptural worship is humbly offered, when 
his blood and righteousness is the sinner's 
only plea. He is present, not on the altar, 
to be fumed with incense, and honored with 



252 IN MEMORIAM. 

waving banners, and bowed to with pros- 
trate form, as if He could there be localized ; 
but in the midst of you, in your hearts, to 
be loved, and honored, and trusted, and 
worshipped ; that you may tell Him your 
griefs, and breathe your vows, and whisper 
your requests, and confess your sinsj and ask 
his pardon and grace; and that He, the 
same Jesus who was on earth, may love, 
and pardon, and sympathize with, and save 
you. 



A COMMUNION SERMON. 

11 With desire I have desired to eat this passover with } 7 ou 
before I suffer." — Luke xxii. 15. 

How solemnly must these words of the 
Lord Jesus have broken the silence of " the 
large upper room " in Jerusalem, where, 
" with his twelve Apostles," He was about 
" to eat the passover." It was, we learn 
from St. Paul, " the same night in which 
He was betrayed." It was the occasion 
upon which He abolished an Old Testament 
ordinance which typified his salvation, and 
established that sacrament of the New Cove- 
nant, which is "in remembrance of Him;" 
and in which, " as often as they eat the 
bread and drink the cup," his disciples 
" show the Lord's death, till He come." 
Is there any incident of our Redeemer's 
life more worthy of commemoration ? is 
there any hour, around which faith and 
love linger with holier memories ? Eighteen 
hundred years have passed, yet who that 
has " tasted that the Lord is gracious," but 
feels the power of that scene, and turns to 
the narrative of it in the Gospel, with a 



254 IN MEMORIAM. 

freshness that no familiarity can destroy ? 
Wherever the Church of Christ has existence 
it is solemnly reenacted, and affords the 
simple but enduring bond of unity and fel- 
lowship. We have met to-night, dear 
Christian friends, in 'the midst of the week 
which is made holy by the recital of our 
Lord's passion, with the cross in view, and 
the great atonement offered thereon, leading 
us to the resurrection, to recall, with special 
service, the night on which " the Lord's 
Supper " was " commanded," and to ex- 
press, in " the Holy Communion of the 
Body and Blood " of Emmanuel, and with 
Eucharistic worship, around " the Lord's 
Table," that " we, being many, are one 
bread and one body ; for we are all par- 
takers of that one Bread." It is no mere 
social compact that invites us, no voluntary 
agreement only that associates us, and, 
while the historic Church of Christ is our 
visible organization, it is oneness with the 
Master himself, which gives life to our 
" unity in the Spirit," and, with the golden 
cord of a love linked to his own heart, 
graciously holds us " in the bond of peace." 
No truer exhibition of the fellowship of 
" the familv for which our Lord Jesus 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 255 

Christ was contented to be betrayed, and 
given up into the hands of wicked men, and 
to suffer death upon the cross," can be 
given, than " the cup of blessing which vre 
here bless," as " the communion of the blood 
of Christ ; " and the bread which we now 
break, as the " communion of the body of 
Christ." The Lord Jesus himself ordained 
it, and the Church, through all ages, has 
never ceased, " in the breaking of bread," 
to " feed upon her Lord by faith, and to com- 
mune, in Him, with all his faithful people." 
If the world takes pleasure in tracing to 
their origin its races and languages ; if 
statesman are interested in showing the 
sources of their country's constitution and 
laws, the Christian may surely indulge a 
higher instinct of his renewed nature, when 
he recurs to the birth of the kingdom of 
God, and commemorates the rise of those 
holy institutions which are interwoven with 
its family history, its language of affection, 
and its laws of grace. I would take you, 
this evening, to the fountain-head, from 
which the stream of the Church's usage 
flows ; and I would quicken your apprecia- 
tion of this ordinance of the Redeemer, as 
you see Him, in the last hours of a ministry 



256 IN MEMORIAL. 

of love, appointing it as a memorial to his 
disciples forever. There is something im- 
pressive in visiting the locality in which 
great men have lived, or where important 
events were transacted. Who has not felt 
the heart moved as he stood where genius 
had a home, or where heroism was illus- 
trated, either in self-sacrifice, or in glory ? 
How do men take note of the battle-fields 
of the world, or of the haunts of poets, or of 
the last resting-places of the great and the 
good ! It is not to be wondered at, the feel- 
ing which thus seeks expression should have 
made its demands upon Christianity ; and 
that the home, and abiding places of the 
Incarnate Son of God, should have been 
sought for with avidity. But it has been 
observed that in regard to no one, that ever 
lived upon the earth, is there less certainty, 
as to the localities in which they abode, 
than in the case of our Lord. Confined, as 
his ministry was, to the land of his birth, 
though the whole of Palestine is fragrant 
with the memories of his life, yet, in respect 
to particular spots, which we would love to 
consecrate with the assurance that there 
He sat, and walked, and spake, and worked 
his deeds of wonder and of grace, we cannot 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 257 

be certain of the topography, and must sat- 
isfy our minds with only general associa- 
tions, with certain mountains and seas and 
cities, which were sanctified by his presence, 
and whose names can never die out of the 
recollection of the readers of the Gospels. 
With a life so unique, and a history so au- 
thentic, it is from the inspired record, 
rather than from the scenes of his ministry, 
that we gather vivid conceptions of the Son 
of Man. A universal Saviour, his biogra- 
phy is the peculiar treasure of no single 
country ; and men of all climes are equally 
interested in his glory. There is, however, 
in the narrative of the Evangelist, a graphic 
power which takes hold of the imagination ; 
and while the portrait is that of the mind 
and character, and physical features are not 
so much as hinted at, there is the vividness 
of reality, carefully guarded by the exact- 
ness of truth. Upon this likeness, presented 
to us on every side by the four biographies, 
we should gaze with ardent love. The flow- 
ing stream of the Church's life, through 
ages, is to be freshened ever from the foun- 
tain-head of truth and love incarnate in Je- 
sus Christ. As we gather to-night around 
the table of the Lord, brethren in Him, liv- 

17 



258 IN MEMORIAM. 

ing by his life, and bound together in 
" the unity of his Spirit," let us be carried 
back to " the night in which He was be- 
trayed," and sit with Him, and the twelve 
whom He had chosen. It is not mere imi- 
tation that we would attempt : the Church 
is free to adapt herself, in ritual observances, 
to varying necessities ; so that the oneness 
of the faith, as " delivered to the saints," 
be intact. It is the truth, that we would 
grasp ; the life, which we would secure ; the 
love, that we would reproduce. Let us en- 
ter that upper room. I know not how it 
was arranged ; the custom of the Jewish fes- 
tival was, no doubt, observed ; but this is 
not dwelt upon in the inspired narrative. 
That it is the passover, and that there is 
the appointed food of the occasion, and the 
cups of wine, which were drank in thanks- 
giving, are all that seem noted. Nor is it 
with the old feast, now passing out of view, 
that we have to do ; " the New Testament " 
in the Saviour's " blood " absorbs to itself 
the interest. It is not the posture of the 
Lord, or his guests, that I am engaged with. 
He sits, or lies at table, as was the usage of 
the times. But with the Master himself, I 
am deeply concerned. He is near " the 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 259 

hour of darkness," and " the baptism " that 
He longed for is at hand. Never in all his 
association with the twelve has He ap- 
peared more distinctively their Lord. 

You can form no conception of that scene, 
in which Christ is not the central figure. 
Painters have taxed their art to give reality 
to the Supper, but however they may ar- 
range the table, and place the disciples, the 
Master in all cases unites the children of 
his family around Himself. It is so in the 
words of my text: " With desire I have 
desired to eat this passover with you before 
I suffer." It is so in his words of institu- 
tion : " My body and my blood, given and 
shed for you." It is so, when He appoints 
the sacrament, "in remembrance of me." 
This is the thought which is expressed, 
where He says, " I am the vine, ye are the 
branches ; abide in me, and I in you." 
This it is which gives the saddest solemnity 
to the warning, " One of you shall betray 
me." If there is any significance, my 
brethren, in this feast at all, it sets forth a 
present Jesus. It did so at the beginning ; 
it does so now. I see around that table, at 
the time of the institution, the loving John, 
" leaning on his Master's breast ; " the ar- 



260 IN MEM OBI AM 

dent Peter, full of earnest protestations of 
faithfulness to his Lord ; the affectionate 
Thomas, who on another occasion said, 
" Let us go and die with Hiin ; " James, 
who would have " sat on his right hand in 
his kingdom ; " Bartholomew, or Nathaniel, 
who saw in Him the antitype of Jacob's 
ladder of communication between God and 
man ; and all the other disciples of Jesus, 
full of personal devotion to Him, now soft- 
ened into sadness at the unwelcome words 
which He speaks of leaving them. Even 
the traitor appreciates but too well the 
central interest of the occasion ; and ap- 
pears in bold pretension to have thrust him- 
self on the right hand of the Master, just 
opposite where love was nestling near his 
heart. At the Lord's table, the supreme, 
absorbing thought is Christ. The passover 
pointed forward to his deliverance ; and 
this, which takes its place, speaks, O ! how 
eloquently, of a present Saviour, whose 
death is our life. 

And we cannot be unmindful that, on 
this "night to be remembered," it is "the 
Son of Man, who is going as it is written of 
Him." The whole scene is crowded with 
human affections and sympathies. It is in- 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 261 

deed a family gathering. The Elder 
Brother sits with those who are dear to 
Him as his own soul, and they are called in 
his loving voice, not servants, but friends. 
How strong is that instinct of our nature 
which causes us to cherish memorials of 
those we love ! How universal is the inter- 
change of tokens of regard ! How unspeak- 
ably tender are the last moments of inter- 
course with those who are dying ! How we 
watch their glances of affection, and cherish 
their words of farewell ! Promises made to 
them are doubly sacred, and requests which 
they leave behind are laid up in the heart, 
as a precious trust. The closing hours 
bring into review all that we prized in char- 
acter, all that was amiable in conduct. 
The shadow of the grave deepens the lines 
of memory, and the sadness of separation 
makes the recollection of past joys more 
vivid. There must have been much of this 
feeling in the hearts of the twelve, as they 
sat around their Master at this last pass- 
over. If they knew not the bitterness of 
the grief that was in store for them, yet, 
because of what He had said of his going 
away, " sorrow had filled their hearts ; " and 
that " none of them asked, Whither goest 



262 IN MEMORIAM. 

Thou," was the silent but most expressive 
confession of their sadness. How must the 
man Christ Jesus in that hour have wound 
Himself around their hearts ! Never had 
they felt Him so necessary to their happi- 
ness ; it was his tender appreciation of their 
distress, that called forth the words of en- 
couragement, so full of the sympathy of his 
soul, " I will not leave you comfortless, I 
will come to you." And is there not for us, 
my brethren, as we sit with Jesus at his 
board, the same fellowship with his human- 
ity ? Do we not find here " a friend who 
sticketh closer than a brother " ? May not 
all our affections be in exercise, as we " re- 
member his love," and appreciate his good- 
ness ? "I sat down under his shadow," 
may the believer exclaim, " with great de- 
light ; He hath brought me to the ban- 
queting house, and his banner over me is 
love." 

But who does not feel that " a greater 
than Solomon is here ? " No perfection of 
manhood is equal to this office. The twelve 
in the upper room must have felt the pres- 
ent God. Their faith was feeble, and their 
understandings needed the enlightenment 
of the Holv Ghost, as at Pentecost : but, as 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 263 

often before, there had been " the bright- 
ness of the Father's glory " " shewing Himself 
through the lattice," and they were amazed ; 
so now, especially, must that chamber have 
been irradiated with the unearthly splendor 
" of the Everlasting Son of the Father." 
What act of Christ, on this occasion, is to 
be understood at all, if He were not " the 
Son of God " ? I will not speak of the 
egotism of the whole scene, which nothing 
but the catholic faith in his Divinity can 
account for. I will not dwell on his self- 
confidence in this hour of danger. I will 
not insist upon the bold attraction of all to 
Himself ; with faith, and love, and hope, 
centering supremely in Him. I will not 
pause to consider his royal gifts and legacies 
to his Church, and his bold presentation of 
his " wills " to God, when He claims for 
his people a share in the " glory which He 
had with Him from the beginning." I 
will not produce examples of his searching 
the heart, rebuking and warning the traitor, 
nor of his utterances concerning the de- 
vices of Satan, foretelling his own death 
and resurrection. I have not time to gather 
all the beams which are struggling through 
the darkness of this night, from the veiled 



264 IN MEM0R1AM. 

Sun of Righteousness, as He enters into the 
cloud of his passion. I ask you to consider 
a single fact — a demonstration of the 
truth : I mean the institution of the Supper. 
"And He took bread, and gave thanks, 
and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, 
This is my body which is given for you : 
this do in remembrance of me. . Likewise 
also the cup after supper, saying, This cup 
is the new testament in my blood, which 
is shed for you." Such is the simple or- 
dinance of Christ's appointment. But its 
simplicity is its grandeur. It is the ordi- 
nance, not of man, but of God; of one 
who has said, " I am the Living Bread which 
came down from heaven ; if any man eat of 
this bread, he shall live forever ; and the 
bread that I will give is my flesh, which I 
will give for the life of the world." He now 
sets forth, in sacramental signs, what He 
then declared in words, " I am that Bread 
of Life." The eye shall help the ear, and 
each shall discover to faith its life-giving 
sustenance, the Incarnate Son of God, fed 
upon spiritually, in the heart, by all who 
live in Him. " The words that I speak 
unto you," He tells us, " they are spirit and 
they are life." But who could have uttered 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 265 

thein, except " the Son of the living God " ? 
What mere man, standing at the door of 
death, could look beyond it, and see the 
Church that would be born from his pierced 
side, and leave it, for all time, such a me- 
morial of Himself ; such a visible sign and 
token of life in Him, and salvation from his 
death ? I dwell not here, upon the feeding 
upon Christ by faith, but I ask who is this, 
who appoints " the sacrament of so great a 
thing " ? His Godhead stands revealed, and 
surely as we gather around this holy table, 
and see the memorials of his body broken, 
and his blood shed upon the cross for us 
miserable sinners, " we must give most hum- 
ble and hearty thanks to God the Father, 
the Son, and the Holy Ghost, for the re- 
demption of the world by the death and 
passion of our Saviour Christ, both God 
and man." 

My brethren, I will not detain you from 
that feast, by any prolonged discussion of 
the grace which it exhibits, and the life 
which it conveys by an outward and visible 
sign, to believing hearts. I would only have 
you, on this evening especially, to draw 
near to this holy table with the solemn 
recollection of that first communion. Let 



266 in mem ori Am. 

us realize the continuity and oneness of the 
Church of Christ. It is not now confined, 
as at first, to secret gatherings in upper 
chambers ; but it may, thanks be to God, 
come out into the blaze of day, and, in 
churches dedicated to public worship, call 
upon the Lord, publish the gospel of his 
grace, and observe in the face of all men, 
the ordinances of his appointment. But if 
the mind is ever in danger of being led 
away from the simplicity of faith, let us re- 
fresh our hearts with the inspired records of 
primitive piety, and primitive worship. 
Let us hold fellowship with the past, and 
rebind from Scripture the chain of love 
which links us, in the faith, with Apostles 
and their Lord. As we left our homes to- 
night, the same paschal moon looked gently 
down upon us, which shone on Jerusalem 
when the traitor " went out " to deliver up 
his Lord, and which shed its cold shimmer 
upon the slopes of Olivet, and into the 
thickets of Getksemane. when the Man of 
sorrows was borne to the ground, bleeding, 
in his agony. The ;same star-lit heavens 
arch above us, and the angels, who spared 
one of their companions to be a strengthener 
of our Master, as " ministering spirits, min- 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 267 

ister from thence to the heirs of salvation." 
The changes of earth are many, and 
often sad. We miss from our assemblies 
companions of former years. Hopes and 
anticipations are here disappointed. But 
the heavens in their calmness remind us of 
Him who " changeth not ; " and the Church, 
which has been " redeemed from among 
men," by the precious blood of the Son of 
God, should partake of the stability of the 
rock on which she is built. We look, in 
the Word of Inspiration, for " the faith once 
delivered to the saints ; " we confess it in 
the creeds of the primitive ages ; we give 
expression to Scripture truth in the litur- 
gical worship, which the martyrs of the Ref- 
ormation purified for us, amid the fires of 
persecution. Let us, as we commune to- 
night at our Master's table, seek to be in- 
deed in harmony with the first disciples. 
While we adore " the man, who is my fel- 
low, saith the Lord of Hosts," let us rest 
upon his atoning sacrifice, feed upon Him 
as the Living Bread, and realize, in view of 
his cross, the oneness of those for whom He 
shed his blood. 

Christ will be present with us, as He was 
in the upper chamber ; and we shall carry 



268 IN MEMORIAM. 

from hence, written upon our hearts by his 
Holy Spirit, " the new commandment which 
He hath given us," " As I have loved you, 
that ye also love one another." 



THE ONE MAN WHO CANNOT BE CON- 
VICTED OF SIN. 

" Which of you convinceth me of sin ? " — John viii. 46. 

This is a remarkable inquiry to be ut- 
tered by any man. It is such a bold appeal 
as could be put forth only where there was 
absolute righteousness. It is the yoice of 
innocence inviting investigation, and in no 
way shrinking from scrutiny. 

Which of you, my hearers, could think of 
making it, even where you were least 
known ? Which of you would dare to put 
it forth, even though there may be but the 
most inadequate knowledge of your sinful 
heart, and the too easy f orgetfulness of your 
life and conduct? I have never seen or 
heard of the man who would not feel him- 
self forced to acknowledge some fault, even 
though he should plead that it is " a small 
one," and bring with it a ready excuse. 
And in all history, ancient and modern, and 
through all the volumes of biography with 
which the world abounds, you shall search 
in vain for the character, save the one from 



270 IN MEMOR1AM. 

whom the question of the text proceeds, 
which, however high and noble and pious, 
could invite, or bear such an investigation. 
Whether you read the records of Scripture 
or examine the annals of nations, you will 
find neither hero nor saint without fault. 
History furnishes no character that has not 
its shade, as well as its sunlight ; its blots of 
shame, amid, it may be, brilliant attractions 
of genius and greatness. Think of any man 
that ever lived, and see if the errors of a 
fallen humanity do not weave themselves in 
with his story, however noble and excellent. 
But here you have a Man, standing amid 
his countrymen, among whom He has been 
going in and out for thirty years, whose 
attention has been attracted to his life by 
circumstances of peculiar interest ; you have 
grouped around Him friends, who have 
shared his intimacy, and have been asso- 
ciated with Him in the closest intercourse, 
and you have arrayed against Him enemies, 
who are excited by the strongest feelings of 
prejudice and dislike ; men who have been 
stung by his reproofs, and made to tremble 
for their authority and position, by his lofty 
claims ; who have watched Him with the 
keenest hate, and sought to entangle Him 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 271 

with guile, and betray Him, if possible, into 
some fault ; who have been haunting his 
steps, and marking his ways, and plotting 
actively against his life ; who have ob- 
served his deeds, and treasured up his 
words, and are anxious, above all things, to 
have some " occasion " against Him : and 
before thein all, He boldly flings out a chal- 
lenge, invites an investigation, calls for the 
exposure of anything that may be wrong ; 
and presses them with the demand to which 
the attention of all is attracted by the indi- 
viduality of the appeal : " Which of you con- 
vinceth me of sin ? " 

And is there any attempt at reply ? Is 
any fault charged ? Does either friend or foe 
appear to give answer ? Or, from that day 
to this, during a period of eighteen hundred 
years, with the whole earth interested in the 
history of the speaker, and many passion- 
ately enlisted against his claims upon their 
service, and some of the keenest intellects 
that the world has produced arrayed in op- 
position to the religion of which He is the 
author, and much controversy, and great 
bitterness and hostile misrepresentation, has 
there ever been the smallest attempt to 
bring forward an accusation, or to cast any 



272 IN MEMORIAM. 

slur whatever upon the purity "and moral 
beauty of the character so boldly submitted 
to scrutiny ? On the contrary, have not op- 
posers of this gospel been themselves eulo- 
gizers of Jesus ? And is it not from the 
lips of infidels that we have heard some of 
the most eloquent tributes to his surpassing 
excellence ? Have not those who despise 
his claims, and scorn his message, and sepa- 
rate themselves, with the utmost care, from 
any suspicion of being his disciples, come 
forward voluntarily as his biographers ? 
And while they would tear from his brow 
the crown of glory with which, from ever- 
lasting, He was invested, and would remove, 
if they could, from his history all that is su- 
pernatural, and are reasoning with a philos- 
ophy, falsely so called, upon " the causes of 
his greatness " and the extent of his ad- 
mitted power, yet seek to make Him the 
hero of their romances, and endeavor to give 
a glow to their own vain imaginations, as 
they reflect on their pages the splendor of 
his career, and the sublime majesty of his 
person ? Is it not a fact of deepest signifi- 
cance, apart from all other evidences of the 
truth of the Christian revelation, that Jesus 
of Nazareth is acknowledged as unequaled 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 273 

among men, and that however the corrupt 
heart of sinners may impel them to hate his 
holiness, and put from them his laws, they 
have not been able, any of them, to construct 
a single charge against Him ; but are forced 
by the necessity of the case to uncover in 
his presence, and confess that some remark- 
able one is before them ? That which was 
enacted with so much solemnity in Jerusa- 
lem, at the bar of the Roman governor, 
when Pilate again and again declared that 
he " found no fault in Him," and " took 
water and washed his hands before the mul- 
titude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of 
this just person," is now repeated by many 
in all parts of the world, who like him, in 
the presence of Truth itself, yet ask with a 
voice of skepticism and a malicious sneer, 
" What is truth ? " They despise the good 
tidings of salvation ; but they dare not vil- 
ify the character of the Saviour. His chal- 
lenge they cannot respond to, and they fail 
universally to " convince Him of sin." 
Herod, on his part, is no more successful 
here than Pilate, and his savage mockery 
only brings out, as from a dark background, 
the sublimity of the silent Sufferer; and 
ever since, the mad assaults of unbelief have 

18 



274 IN MEMORIAM. 

but thrown into greater prominence the 
grand character of Christ. From the day 
■when the dying Julian exclaimed, " Naza- 
rene, thou hast conquered," to the period 
when Voltaire (who had written, with hor- 
rid blasphemy, " Crush the wretch ! ") solic- 
ited, in the supposed hour of death, the 
offices of the Church ; and when Strauss is 
reported to have renounced his elaborate 
folly, in favor of a juster criticism and truer 
creed ; the attacks of the enemy have only 
caused the form of the Captain of salvation 
to tower more grandly above the field of 
battle, and have been the occasion of the 
clearer demonstration of his surpassing excel- 
lence. Now I point you to this, brethren, 
as a fact to be noticed. I stand and repeat 
the challenge of my Master, " Which of you 
convinceth me of sin? " and I bid you ob- 
serve that the failure, on the part of any 
man of any age, whatever may have been 
his attitude in regard to the gospel, to de- 
tract from the purity of Christ's life, and 
the perf ectness of his character, is a thing 
so remarkable, that it is in itself a demon- 
stration of the divinity of his person, and 
the truth of his message. No other charac- 
ter has not been blackened, in some degree, 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 275 

in the strife of controversy, and the onset of 
passion ; and no other character, we must 
admit, is to be found, which, however 
worthy, has not that about it, if it be thor- 
oughly scrutinized, which will allow of, if it 
does not invite, censure. " There is no man 
that sinneth not." " If I justify myself,'* 
saith Job, " mine own mouth shall condemn 
me : if I say I am perfect, it shall also prove 
me perverse." But the character of Jesus 
stands alone. It towers above all biography 
like the mountain pillowing its head upon 
the clouds, and piercing the vault of heaven. 
It is unique ; it has not any fellow ; it ad- 
mits of no comparison. And this is to be 
observed as much in the harmony of its uni- 
versal excellence, as in the transcendent 
superiority of each particular virtue. 

This is a very marked peculiarity of the 
character of Jesus, to which I wish to direct 
attention. If you will consider any other 
character that has appeared upon the stage 
of the world, or if, in the domain of imagi- 
nation, you examine the ideal productions 
of genius, where the hand of a master has 
given being to the conception of his own 
mind, so life-like as to impress with a sense 
of reality, you will always find, even if you 



276 IN MEMORIAM. 

leave out of sight the defects and crimes 
which so sadly illustrate a fallen humanity, 
that there is a disproportion in the virtues. 
Some are marked and prominent, while 
others are wanting, or are so much in defect 
as to give undue preponderance to those 
which form the man. You can designate 
the personage by the virtue which he exag- 
gerates, and which stands out without that 
toning down, through the presence of other 
qualities, which in combination would give 
harmony to the life. Some ruling passion 
shapes the course of each man's conduct. 
Some peculiarity of moral disposition con- 
stitutes his greatness. Your own minds, as 
you run through any memories of biography 
or of contemporaneous life, will furnish you 
with illustrations of what I refer to. Men 
may be classed and labeled by their cast of 
soul, as well as by their features, their com- 
plexion, or their stature. Now try any such 
rule of judgment upon the character of Jesus 
Christ, as developed in the gospel, and see 
how entirely you fail to make any discrimi- 
nation in excellences. All the virtues are 
grouped in his person, with wonderful har- 
mony and proportion ; every grace, while it 
stands forth, attracting admiration by its 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 277 

Divine beauty, is united with every other, 
and the whole are blended with something 
of that exquisite loveliness with which the 
colors of the rainbow fade into each other, 
or the hues of flowers are insensibly min- 
gled by the pencil of God. I cannot think 
of any virtue of which Christ is not the 
model ; and yet I cannot think of Him so 
that any one of the whole circle of graces 
which constitute the purest goodness, is un- 
linked from companionship with its fellows. 
His life is not like the broken surface of 
earth, upon which you trace mountain and 
plain, where lofty summits compel adoration, 
and lowly vales attract by their beauty ; it 
is rather the broad expanse of heaven's own 
placid face, where the stars beam out from 
a depth of azure, and the glow of morning 
and evening blends with the deeper hues, 
and brings out the loveliness of the whole. 

The harmony of the moral qualities in 
the character of Jesus, the completeness of 
his perfection, the unity of his life in a 
diversity of spiritual endowments, which 
make up the entire circle of goodness, is so 
remarkable as to fix our gaze, and force us 
to the conclusion that such loveliness was 
not the invention of human genius, which, 



278 TN MEMORIAM. 

in its noblest conceptions, has attempted 
nothing like it ; much less the natural 
outgrowth of any of the seed of fallen 
Adam, where imperfection is the stamp 
of descent ; but the manifestation of the 
presence of God ; a proof itself, strong and 
irresistible, of the incarnation of Jehovah. 
" Never* man spake like this man ; " " This 
man hath done nothing amiss ; " " Truly 
this was a righteous man ; " and was, as this 
perfect and harmonious excellence demon- 
strates, the " Son of God." The testimony 
here is from the lips of enemies, and the 
universal heart of man, conscious of sin and 
observant everywhere else of infirmity, re- 
sponds. The reality of the life of Christ, 
and the Divinity in Him, united to man- 
hood, seem to be impressed upon the gospel 
narrative, and woven in with all its facts. 
Man could neither have developed, nor 
invented, such perfections ; its harmony is 
from heaven. And this, brethren, aids us 
in no small degree, in entering into the 
truth of Divine revelation, concerning the 
relation which Christ our Lord bears to the 
salvation of his people. Seeing the testi- 
mony of Scripture concerning the sinless- 
ness of Jesus acquiesced in, by the silence 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 279 

or the extorted confession even of his 
enemies, the great fact takes hold of our 
hearts, and faith recognizes, with profound 
and adoring love, " the Holy One and the 
Just/' His presence in a world of sin is 
itself a pledge of relief ; and we are pre- 
pared to welcome Him as the central figure 
in redemption. In three ways does " He 
who knows no sin " reveal Himself to the 
hearts of his believing people. 

(1.) As their substitute. " He hath 
made Him," saith the Scripture, "to be sin 
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be 
made the righteousness of God in Him." 
" The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity 
of us all ; " and "by the obedience of one 
shall many be made righteous." It was 
not only to make a pageant of holiness, in 
a world of evil, that " the Son of God was 
manifested," but " that He might destroy 
the works of the devil." He stood forth, 
the perfect man and the unequaled sufferer. 
He " fulfilled all righteousness," and was 
" obedient unto death, even the death of the 
cross ; " and this that He might redeem 
them that were under the law. He places 
HimseK, by the appointment of the Father, 
in the room and stead of the sinner. All 



280 AY MEMORIAM. 

that the commandment required us to do. 
He accomplished ; all that the law. which 
we have violated, inflicted in the way of 
penalty. He endured. " He was wounded 
for our transgressions. He was bruised for 
our iniquities ; the chastisement of our 
peace was upon Him. and with his stripes 
we are healed." There can no other satis- 
factory account be given, of the unparal- 
leled suffering and shameful death of Him 
i; in whom " God himself declared ; - He was 
well pleased/' You will find that part of 
the gospel narrative which leads you to 
the cross, a mystery indeed, until you hear 
the voice of God saying, ;i For the trans- 
gression of my people was He stricken/* 

And now the tree of shame becomes the 
emblem of self-sacrificing goodness, and the 
token of covenanted mercy. The doctrines 
of atonement and vicarious sacrifice for the 
guilty, with the imputation of Emmanuers 
righteousness, through faith, for the justify- 
ing of the ungodly, throw a flood of light 
upon the story of the Evangelist, and open 
to us that blessed truth, the essential power 
and glory of Christianity, that the holiness 
of Jesus is the basis of redemption. If no 
man. nor angel, nor God himself, can " con- 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEX. 281 

vince Him of sin, then " In the Lord, shall 
all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall 
glory/* " Who shall lay anything," asks 
the Apostle, " to the charge of God's elect ? 
It is God that justifieth ; who is he that 
condemneth ? It is Christ that died, yea 
rather that is risen again ; who is ever at 
the right hand of God ; who also niaketh 
intercession for us." " The blood of Jesus 
Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." 

(2.) But Christ is the life, as well as 
the sacrifice of his people ; their strength, 
because He is their righteousness. The 
holiness which we observe in the Re- 
deemer flashes out, to them who look upon 
Him by faith, the conviction of his Divinity. 
" He is the brightness of the Father's glory, 
and the express image of his person ; " " in 
Him dwelleth the fullness of the Godhead 
bodily." It is thus only that his righteous- 
ness, though assailed with all the powers of 
evil, is triumphant over all temptation. An 
innocent Adam fell before the snare of Sa- 
tan : but " the second Adam " foils the 
tempter, because He is " the Lord from 
heaven," and as, by reiiniting his people to 
Himself through faith, He presents them 
" faultless before God," " the righteousness 



282 IN MEMORIAM. 

of God in Him ; so, from his Divine per- 
son there flows forth, to every believing 
heart, the power of a new and heavenly life. 
That person, adorned with all the graces of 
holiness, is most attractive to the heart. 
God draws us to Him, in Christ, with the 
" cords of a man, and the bands of love ; " 
the compassion, the sympathy, the tender- 
ness, the goodness of Jesus are the power- 
ful forces which the Spirit of Grace employs 
to ravish us with his love. " My beloved," 
exclaims the spouse, " is the chief est among 
ten thousand; " faith discovers all it longs 
for in the Son of God, and as it appropriates 
Him through grace in all his offices, his Di- 
vine power is disclosed. " Of his fullness 
do we receive grace for grace : " the union 
of love is the strength of the redeemed soul, 
and the believer, as he clings to the cross 
and grasps the Saviour, exclaims with the 
Apostle, " I am crucified with Christ : 
nevertheless I live : yet not I, but Christ 
liveth in me ; and the life which I now live 
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son 
of God, who loved me and gave Himself for 
me." The same Christ, who is " upon the 
believer the righteousness of God," is also 
" in him. the hope of glory." 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 283 

(3.) And here comes constantly into view 
another and most blessed relation of Jesus 
Christ to his justified, believing, and there- 
fore accepted people. He is their example. 
" Christ," saith St. Peter, " suffered for us, 
leaving us an example, that ye should fol- 
low his steps." So glorious is this office 
which He bears to his believing children, 
that some have sadly mistaken it as all his 
work ; but it grows out of, and is only pos- 
sible, by reason of his atonement and grace. 
When we are through faith " accepted in 
the Beloved," then is it our duty and priv- 
ilege, as his regenerate seed, to follow his 
steps, as we " walk in newness of life." 

And now all the glory of his sinless per- 
fection bursts upon our view. Here is a 
pattern that we can imitate throughout ; no 
deduction is to be made for infirmity of any 
sort ; the path is full of the sunshine of 
holiness ; not only heroic virtues, and active 
powers of life, but passive graces, sweet, 
modest gifts of humility and meekness, 
tenderness and love, bloom along this way- 
side. O, how different a model is Jesus, 
from that afforded by any other man, whose 
life history delivers to us ! How wide the 
sweep of his majestic greatness, how minute 



284 IN MEM OR I AM. 

the filling out of the smallest requirement 
of perfection ! The gospel narrative would 
seem a romance of goodness to us poor sin- 
ners, if it were not all so true ; and if we 
did not know, by faith, " Jesus Christ, the 
same yesterday, to-day, and forever," our 
Brother and Friend. It is all just, the be- 
lieving heart feels, when it describes Him ; 
there is blended in Him the sublimity of 
lofty virtue, with the sweetest touches of 
child-like loveliness. It reminds you of the 
Alpine rose, blooming fresh and sweet un- 
der the grand snow mantle of the king of 
mountains. It is the same blended sweet- 
ness and majesty which is in God himself ; 
for here is the Word, " the image of God." 
Let us study his life, and, through grace, 
imitate his holiness. You shall never con- 
vince Him of sin ; and in this, because He 
is your Saviour, is found, believer, your 
safety, your strength, and your constant 
directory of life and action. Our religion 
is Christ. 



THE GODHEAD OF CHRIST, THE ONLY 
KEY TO HIS CHARACTER. 

Preached in Grace Church. Charleston^ 8. C. en the night of 

Sunday, January 22. 1371. in the united services of the 
Church in that city. 

" What manner of man is this ? " — Matthew viii. 27. 

SrCH was the inquiry of the disciples 
when, in their fishing-boat upon the lake of 
Galilee, they beheld the Master, whom their 
cry of fear had aroused from sleep. i; Then 
He arose, and rebuked the winds and the 
sea." Where a moment since there had 
raged c; a tempest, insomuch that the ship 
was covered with the waves." ; - there was 
a great calm." The assumption of such an 
authority by one clothed with the weakness 
of humanity, and the command issued to 
the elements, and obeyed by ; - the winds 
and the sea." made them marvel. And 
well it might : for in what presence is the 
impotence of man more apparent, than where 
" the waves of the sea rage horribly " ? 
The Lord. " who dwelleth on high, is 
mightier : " but who, save He. can i; still 
the noise of the seas " ? As the terrified 



286 IN MEMORIAM. 

fishermen looked upon Him whom they had 
awakened from his pillow to share their 
danger, and saw Him claim the prerogative 
of God, must they not have been amazed ? 
Did they not require the knowledge of his 
Divinity, in order that they might acquit 
Him of presumption ? And was not their 
confession, upon a like exhibition of author- 
ity, at another time, the only explanation 
of the fact : " Of a truth Thou art the Son 
of God." 

And what is observed in this incident of 
our Lord's life, we claim to be true of his 
whole career ; not merely in outward man- 
ifestations of power, but as regards his 
moral nature, and in all that belongs to 
Him as a historical personage. I am bold 
to affirm, to-night, that if you receive the 
gospel record of the life of Jesus as authen- 
tic, the truth of his Godhead, revealed by 
the Scriptures and confessed in the creed 
of the Catholic Church, is the only key to 
his character. 

Modern assailants of Christianity do not, 
like their predecessors, indiscriminately 
deny the facts of our religion. The histor- 
ical Christ has shed too brilliant a light 
across the ages, and has exercised too potent 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 287 

an influence upon society, for any one tak- 
ing note of human progress to reject Hirn 
as a factor in the affairs of men. The plan 
adopted is to recognize his presence, accept 
the main incidents of his life, and eulogize 
the moral beauty of his character. There 
are those who would rewrite his biography ; 
and with the colors of fancy, paint an ideal 
which they would have us receive in place 
of the portrait of the Evangelists. But in 
furnishing a hero for romance, they despoil 
the original of his glory, and present an 
outline which is seen to be impossible, the 
moment that the facts of history come into 
view. The great and good man whom they 
set before us, when the authentic records of 
his life are examined, is found to have put 
forth claims, performed acts, and exhibited 
traits of character, which, if we are to leave 
out of view the underlying fact of his God- 
head, are irreconcilable with any theory of 
high moral excellence. If Jesus Christ is 
not " very God of very God," then can no 
defense be put forth in his behalf, which 
can vindicate his conduct from the most 
serious errors ; and the closer his career is 
scrutinized, the more thorough will be the 
conviction that He must, in spite of all that 



288 IN MEM0R1AM. 

is attractive in his character, be charged 
with what every Christian believer, who 
cherishes love to Him as a Saviour, and loy- 
alty as a king, would sooner perish than pro- 
nounce. We cannot accept these false- 
hearted tributes to our Lord. He must be 
worshipped, or He cannot be beloved. He 
must be adored, as one with the Father 
and the Holy Spirit, or He cannot be thor- 
oughly admired. To maintain this position, 
by an examination of all his words and 
deeds, would exceed the limits of a discourse. 
I must content myself with a few particu- 
lars, which may stand as examples of the 
argument. It will scarcely be denied, that 
the character of Jesus Christ claims atten- 
tion. The form in which his goodness is 
cast is unique. It admits of no comparison ; 
but, like some cloud-capped summit, lifting 
itself above surrounding peaks, stands amid 
the heroes of earth, solitary and alone. Nor 
in its sublime elevation above all the sons of 
men, is its harmony and completeness to be 
lost sight of. In others of our race, some one 
trait has the preeminence ; and not unfre- 
quently, defects of constitution bring out 
into bolder relief the points that are admired. 
A single virtue glows amid the infirmities 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 289 

of humanity, and like the evening star en- 
throned upon a cloud, its beauty from the 
contrast appears more dazzling. This is 
especially the case in some of the great crea- 
tures of genius, where a single passion is 
brought into view, and the mind is en- 
chained by the admiration which it excites. 
You can recall no great personage of his- 
tory, or review no favorite embodiment of 
fancy, in whom you will not distinguish the 
particular feature of character for which it 
is remarkable. You pass through the gal- 
lery of portraits which adorn the corridors 
of time ; you are able to classify and ar- 
range your heroes ; the greatness of each is 
a peculiar type. But where you stand be- 
fore the Christ of the Gospels, you can make 
no distinction in his excellence. There is no 
predominance of virtues, but a harmony of 
goodness makes beautiful the whole. The 
active and the passive graces lovingly com- 
bine. Masculine strength and womanlike 
tenderness, gentleness and power, boldness 
and meekness, unite to constitute the most 
absolute purity that the mind can conceive. 
" What manner of man is this ?" we are 
forced to ask, as we notice how his splendor 
pales all lesser orbs. The Christ of history, 

19 



290 IN MEM OBI AM. 

with all that is supernatural, beyond his 
moral qualities, veiled from view, is of a 
cast of goodness which lifts the thoughts to 
heaven, and forces on us the conviction that 
He has there his home. The world has 
been unable to pass before this central fig- 
ure of the race, without involuntary homage. 
But we maintain that if the scrutiny is close, 
and the record of the life of Jesus, as given 
by the Evangelists, is accepted, this har- 
mony will be marred by most inexplicable 
contradictions, and that these can only be 
removed when faith has taken in her hand 
the key of his Godhead, and adoring love 
recognizes his full-orbed glory, as " the 
Man who is my fellow, saith the Lord of 
Hosts." In illustration of this position, I 
shall select from the completed circle of 
Christ's excellence, as not being able to 
consider all his graces, two of his most 
attractive qualities : qualities which, if they 
were absent from his moral portraiture, 
would leave us without " the form of come- 
liness " which we love ; and yet, traits 
which are essentially in antagonism to acts 
and declarations upon his part, and which 
cannot be denied, without giving up the 
Scripture narrative of his life. The fea- 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 291 

tures in the character of Christ, to which I 
shall confine your notice, are his truthful- 
ness and his lowliness. And you must ad- 
mit, that to deprive Him of these would be 
to blot out from the firmament of history 
the most splendid constellation which has 
ever burned upon the night of this sinful 
world. 

(1.) When our Lord was arraigned be- 
fore Pilate, in answer to the appeal of the 
Roman Procurator, He made this impres- 
sive declaration : " To this end was I born, 
and for this cause came I into the world, 
that I should bear witness unto the truth." 
It is the key-note of his character ; and his 
life possesses no greater charm than that 
transparent sincerity which sheds upon the 
surrounding darkness of human action the 
light of heaven. He is, as named in Reve- 
lation, " the faithful and true witness." 
His " beloved disciple," who leaned on his 
bosom, and was admitted to his intimacy, 
rejoices in "knowing Him that is true;" 
and even his enemies, when they combine 
" to entangle Him in his talk," are forced 
to the confession, " We know that Thou art 
true, and teachest the way of God in truth : 
neither carest Thou for any man, for Thou 



292 IX MEMORIAM. 

regardest not the person of men." If this 
were but a flattering speech, it at least shows 
what was the impression upon the popular 
mind, as to his integrity. And where can 
any one discover, in his whole career, the 
slightest swerving from the right ? With 
the courage which must support truth, if 
she is to make no compromise. Christ calmly 
goes forward, facing every enemy, quailing 
before no opposition, looking steadily into 
the eye of death. And does the history of 
our race present any example that can be 
compared with his. in detecting falsehood '? 
With what majesty do his reproofs, like the 
lightning which clears the clouds, scathe. 
with their own keenness, the subterfuges 
of the hypocrite, and discover the shams 
and pretensions of the self-righteous ! 
What awe is there in his denunciation of 
the Pharisees ! What calm, yet thorough 
refutation of the Sadducees ! If ever, my 
brethren, truth fresh from her home in the 
bosom of God. radiant in beautv. and strong 
in her own glory, has stood upon our earth, 
embodied for the admiration of men. and 
panoplied against falsehood, it was in the 
person of Jesus Christ. Evil saw Him. and 
trembled. Error fled from his presence, as 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 293 

night at the blush of dawn. Falsehood, 
blinded by his purity, was taken in her 
own toils. Hypocrisy shrank from the 
gleam of his supernal beauty. Sincerity 
bowed at his feet, and innocence flew for 
protection to his sheltering arms. Faith 
hung upon his promises, and childhood, 
meek, gentle, and confiding, nestled in his 
bosom. And yet, if we are to deny that 
He, in whom truth thus- found her reality, 
was God, we shall have the strongest asser- 
tions to refute, the highest claims to deny, 
the most unqualified declarations to disbe- 
lieve. I shall not detain you with quota- 
tions. A few, selected as examples of what 
the narrative of the Evangelists abound 
with, will enable you to judge of the argu- 
ment ; and these are such as are inconsist- 
ent, on any other theory than that of his 
Godhead, with the truth and sincerity of 
Jesus. At the same time, passing over 
other Scriptures that furnish testimony, I 
shall present only the words of Christ him- 
self. I know not where, in the wide field 
before me, I can better begin, than with 
that precious declaration of Jesus to Meode- 
mus, which may be called the gospel in 
epitome. You remember how this half- 



294 IN MEM0R1AM. 

persuaded Pharisee "came by night" to 
converse with Him whom he believed " a 
teacher come from God." You can never 
forget the gentleness of Jesus in receiving 
him, and the faithfulness with which He 
discovered the plague of his heart, and 
taught him the doctrine of the new birth. 
But what I ask you to consider now is the 
truth which He presents as the foundation 
of his trust, and the assurance of salvation. 
" God so loved the world that He gave his 
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 
on Him should not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life." Precious gospel, to which the 
heart of every believer clings ! But what 
does it force us to think of Him who pro- 
claims it? A man sits side by side with 
his fellow-man ; he is an inquiring soul, 
trusting to his teacher, and asking the way 
of life ; and that teacher makes the fact 
that He is the Son of God, only begotten, 
the rock of his hope. What would you 
think of the truth of any man, who should 
deal thus with you ? who should tell you 
when your heart is throbbing for the knowl- 
edge of God, that he is the " only begot- 
ten" of the Father, given in love to save? 
How could you bear his lifting himself thus 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 295 

above all other men, and claiming, in the 
closeness of a private conversation, the 
peculiar relation of sonship ? Why is no 
explanation given, such as men are acute 
enough now to furnish? Why are the 
words " only begotten " left, in their blazing 
splendor, without one cloud of criticism to 
obscure their effulgence? What manner 
of man is this, who in such familiar con- 
verse, holds forth unblushingly such a 
claim ? Surely if he were sincere, he must 
have thought it no robbery to be equal 
with God ; and offering no interpretation 
of the relationship, would leave " all men," 
who heard the declaration, " to honor the 
Son, even as they honor the Father." 

But I take another case. It is that of 
the centurion, who seeks to have his ser- 
vant miraculously healed. I need not re- 
late a story which is in all your memories. 
But I ask you to recur to the words, 
" Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldst 
come under my roof ; but speak the word 
only, and my servant shall be healed ; " 
and to bear in mind the comparison of his 
authority, as a military officer and master, 
with that of Him whom he asks to heal. 
Now, here is the direct ascription, to a man, 



296 IX MEMORIAM. 

of Divine prerogative. You will find it 
hard indeed to make anything else of it ; 
and what is the answer of Truth, when the 
power and majesty of God is attributed to 
Him ? •• Verily I say unto you. I have not 
found so great faith, no. not hi Israel.*' Or 
turn to the occasion of the stilling of the 
tempest, when the arm of Jesus plucked 
Peter from the deep. Upon the power dis- 
played in such a miracle. I have dwelt in 
connection with the text. It called forth 
in that instance, the inquiry from the disci- 
ples. ,; What manner of man is this, that 
even the winds and the sea obey Him ? *' 
Now when the winds ceased, at the presence 
of their Master, "the disciples worshipped 
Him. saying. Of a truth, Thou art the Son 
of God." Is there any check upon our 
Lord's part, to this reverence ? any expla- 
nation of this mistake ? Was this, in the 
twelve, only Oriental courtesy ? or can we 
possibly clear the sincerity of Jesus, if He 
was no more than man, from the censure of 
a silence which sanctioned the adoration ? 

But these are inferences, you may say ; 
let us take a more direct word. The Sav- 
iour is with the Apostles, in the familiarity 
of family intercourse. It is a time of deep 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 297 

solemnity ; a solemn sadness, as at the ap- 
proach of death, is on the hearts of men, for 
the Master's words have been weighty with 
the burden of the cross. And yet there are 
the flashing of promises, and gleams of 
heaven, upon " this hour of darkness ; " and 
with the religious consciousness aroused, and 
" the powers of the world to come " in view, 
" Philip saith unto Him, Lord, show us the 
Father, and it sufficeth us." What an op- 
portunity here for rational distinction, and 
the clearing up of mystery ! What a solemn 
and affecting appeal, from a yoice crying in 
the night of this world, for the light of God 
and truth ! And what do we read ? " Jesus 
saith unto him, Have I been so long time 
with you, and yet hast thou not known me, 
Philip ? he that hath seen me hath seen the 
Father ; and how sayest thou then, show us 
the Father ? Believest thou not, that I am 
in the Father and the Father in me ? the 
words that I speak unto you, I speak not 
of myself : but the Father that dwelleth in 
me, He doeth the works." What a com- 
ment is this on that other word of Jesus, so 
clear and grand to all who will receive it, 
" I and my Father are one." But what 
shall we think of the truth of a mere man, 



298 IN MEMORIAM. 

who, with the grave in view, and the cross 
overshadowing his future, thus confounds 
the minds of the simple, and leaves his lit- 
tle ones, at the last hour, either to cling to 
" the faith once delivered to the saints " or 
else to be lost in a maze of ingenious criti- 
cism, whose greatest utility is, that it brings 
out, in clearer distinctness, the precious 
truth, that Christ here declares himself, as 
apostles and martyrs confessed, " the bright- 
ness of his Father's glory, and the express 
image of his person," — "in whom dwelleth 
the fullness of the Godhead bodily " ? It 
were easy to add to these examples, but I 
have contented myself with such as are suffi- 
cient for my purpose. If these acts and 
declarations of Christ were done and spoken 
when He was perfectly aware that He was 
only a man, like you and me, — for it is to 
this, that denial of his essential Divinity 
must come at last, — then where is any plea 
for truthfulness ? We must surrender the 
purest character that history has handed 
down, to companionship with deceit and im- 
posture. The juggling prophet of Mecca 
made no such pretensions ; and the claims 
of the Grand Lama to be an incarnation of 
God would be only a parallel blasphemy. 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 299 

(2.) And now consider the other trait of 
the character of Jesus, his lowliness. It 
was foretold by the prophet Zechariah, that 
Messiah should be " lowly." And Jesus, 
when He invited the heavy laden to take 
his easy yoke upon them, declared, " I am 
meek and lowly in heart." Who, that has 
read the story of the reputed " carpenter's 
son," the " friend of publicans and sinners," 
who " had not where to lay his head," can 
fail to appreciate the description ? His 
daily life was the illustration of his beati- 
tude, " Blessed are the poor in spirit." 
When He was born there was no room for 
Him in the inn ; a stable was his home, and 
a manger was his cradle. As an infant, 
He was an exile. The despised Kazareth 
sheltered his youth. " Capernaum," not 
Jerusalem, " was his own city ; " when He 
attended the festivals on Zion, Bethany was 
his chosen retreat. He withdrew Himself 
from the multitudes, whenever He could 
snatch a moment from active benevolence ; 
He enjoined men to be silent about his 
mighty works ; He rejected a crown, ren- 
dered tribute to Caasar, checked the fierce 
zeal of his disciples, and found his com- 
panions among fishermen. He lived in 



300 IN MEMORIAL. 

poverty, and died upon the cross. His 
motto was, " I seek not mine own glory." 
A man equally humble and unselfish, the 
world has not seen. He taught mankind a 
new virtue ; for which heathen sages found 
no expression, in any language of the earth. 
He eclipsed the glitter of pride, with the 
grace of humility, instructed the Church 
that to suffer was more glorious than to con- 
quer. The lamb is as symbolic of his tem- 
per, as it is expressive of the vicarious sacri- 
fice, which, on Calvary, He offered for sin. 
The Holy Ghost descending on Him at his 
baptism, in the form of a dove, is a signifi- 
cant manifestation of his gentleness and 
meekness. And yet, my brethren, this is 
the man, who, while He puts from Him 
proffers of the world and Satan, and sep- 
arates Himself from the ambition of men, 
asserts claims the most awfully august. It 
startles us to hear Him say, with a calmness 
which forces consideration of his meaning, 
" My Father is greater than I." Would 
you hesitate to charge any man with a 
pride bordering on madness, who presumed 
to make such a comparison ? What man- 
ner of man is this," who is to be measured 
in his greatness, with God ? Whatever 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 301 

interpretation you put upon the words, they 
of necessity assert a dignity, above that of 
any created intelligence. Angels assimilate 
themselves in no degree to Jehovah. In 
his presence they veil their faces ; and " to 
Him cherubim and seraphim continually 
do cry, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of 
Sabaoth." That the Christ ventures to 
vouch Himself only below the Father, 
whether it be in his humiliation as Media- 
tor, or as begotten of the Father, " God of 
God," as some understand the passage, if 
He be not Divine, is an instance of pride 
the most unparalleled. 

But we hear loftier utterances than this : 
" I and my Father are one ; " "I am in the 
Father, and the Father in me ;*" " Before 
Abraham was, I am ; " and many like ex- 
pressions are recorded. He permits Him- 
self to be hailed, by men, as " My Lord and 
my God ; " " the Son of God ; " and with 
titles of similar import. Devils confess 
Him " the Holy One of God." His disci- 
ples worship Him, cry to Him for mercy, 
own Him Lord, ask for " the increase of 
faith," for the " help of their unbelief," and 
for blessings temporal and spiritual ; and 
when He hangs upon the cross, the thief at 



302 IN MEMOR1AM. 

his side appeals to Him to be " remembered 
in his kingdom." And what is the attitude 
of this humblest of men, under these circum- 
stances ? Does He check the idolatry, 
enlighten the ignorance, rebuke the blas- 
phemy of prayer addressed to man ? Does 
He, like Peter and Paul and the other Apos- 
tles , cry out in earnest protest, " We are 
men of like passions with you " ? Does He, 
like the angel before whom St. John fell in 
the Apocalypse, answer, " Worship God " ? 
Not at all. On the contrary He receives 
prayer and adoration, as his right ; He for- 
gives sins ; He dispenses blessings in his own 
name ; He bids the penitent, who weeps at 
his feet, " Go in peace ; " and assures the 
dying malefactor, " To-day shalt thou be 
with me in Paradise." Putting from Him 
an earthly crown, He claims a kingdom 
" not of this world ; " pronounces Himself 
" the Lord and Master " of his people, 
threatens his enemies with his advent in 
glory, to call them to his bar ; and assures 
his servants with the promise of the Com- 
forter, and the precious hope of his coming 
again to receive them unto Himself." We 
are admitted to his privacy; we see Him 
" lifting up his eyes to heaven " and calling 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 303 

in prayer upon his Father ; and in that sol- 
emn intercourse, He communes with Him 
" of the glory which He had with Him be- 
fore the world was ; " and calls upon Him 
to " glorify his Son." Now think of a mere 
man speaking thus ; putting forth, in the 
face of men, claims which no other mortal 
ever dreamed of ; in the midst of his pov- 
erty, asserting the royalty of heaven and 
earth, and all power, as Mediator and 
Judge ; and then addressing God Himself, 
with a demand, that He should " glorify 
Him, with his own self, with the glory 
which He had with Him before the world 
was." If this is the language of one who is 
not God, then I am at a loss to conceive 
how pretension could be more bold, or self- 
assertion could rise higher. Of necessity, I 
have only touched upon the proof ; passages 
crowd upon the mind as our thoughts are 
turned in this direction ; and it is altogether 
probable that many may occur to you, 
stronger and more to the point, than those 
which I have selected. But if I have placed 
the argument before you in such a form that 
you may pursue it for yourselves, by a ref- 
erence to God's Word, I shall have succeeded 
in my purpose. Sure I am, that if you ac- 



304 IN MEMORIAM. 

cept the inspired narrative, when you see 
Jesus of Nazareth deliberately putting forth 
such claims, you must either acknowledge 
Him as God, or refuse to do homage to his 
humility. No man, who was not a wild 
enthusiast, or a self-asserting impostor, 
would hazard such expressions as abound 
in the teachings of Christ. He is God ; or 
the pride of Lucifer hath been surpassed, in 
the lowliest character that history delivers 
to us. 

Now this argument might be carried into 
other departments of Christ's character ; 
other traits might be selected, which fade 
away before the contradictions of the phe- 
nomena, if the humanity of Christ is all that 
is admitted. Every page of the Gospels you 
will find asserting, with more or less distinct- 
ness, the truth of Christ's Godhead. Every 
incident of his life is in proof of the catho- 
lic faith. The evangelic history is, as St. 
Mark names it, " The Gospel of Jesus 
Christ, the Son of God." Strike out the 
last clause of this title, or place it in the 
alembic of what is so strangely called " ra- 
tional criticism," and explain away its signif- 
icance, and you will have before you a rec- 
ord, which you will find it a difficult task 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 305 

to deal with. Either you will reject the 
whole, as fable, or the historical Christ will 
disappear, to make way for the poor inven- 
tion of rationalism. My brethren, are you 
ready to give up your Bible, and take in- 
stead " The Life of Christ,*' as invented by 
the romancer ? Alas ! what a dreary ex- 
change would you make. Miracle will dis- 
appear ; truth will be clouded ; morality 
will be in dispute. The cross, with its 
atoning victim will be overthrown ; the 
dove, that hovers above it, will be driven 
away ; the throne of Jesus will be over- 
turned ; his sceptre will be broken ; his 
crown despoiled. Man, instead of walking 
in the light of life, will be remitted to the 
uncertainties of the ancient philosophers, or 
surrendered to the changing principles of 
the disciples of modern progress. Kay, my 
brethren, let us, by God's grace, cling to 
the old truth of the Bible and the Church. 
Let us ;; contend earnestly for the faith 
once delivered to the saints." Let us with 
St. John and St. Paul, own " the Word 
made flesh," " God over all, blessed forever- 
more." Let us, with Athanasius, stand 
" against the world; " let us cherish, in our 
hearts, the scriptural Creed of Xicea; and 

20 



306 /A r MEM OB I AM. 

reverently bow before Jesus our Lord, as 
" of one substance with the Father ; God of 
God ; light of light ; very God of very 
God." A Divine Saviour only can redeem 
us ; and if Christ is not Divine, we shall be 
utterly at a loss how to estimate Him. His 
Godhead is the only key to his character ; 
and that being lost sight of, we. are without 
light or hope. 

I would conclude, in the devoutly elo- 
quent words of Mr. Liddon, who has treated 
at length, and with uncommon ability, the 
great argument which I have feebly endeav- 
ored to exhibit ; and to whose " Bampton 
Lectures," as having been indebted to them 
myself, I would earnestly refer all who 
would have their faith in Christ scripturally 
instructed. 

" Eternal Jesus ! it is Thyself who hast 
thus bidden us either despise Thee or wor- 
ship Thee. Thou wouldst have us despise 
Thee as our fellow-man, if we will not wor- 
ship Thee as our God. Gazing on thy hu- 
man beauty, and listening to thy words, we 
cannot deny that Thou art the only Son of 
God most high ; disputing thy Divinity, we 
could no longer clearly recognize thy human 
perfections. But if our ears hearken to thy 









REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 807 

revelation of thy greatness, our souls have 
already been won to Thee by thy truthful- 
ness, by thy lowliness, and by thy love. 
Convinced, by these, thy moral glories, and 
by thy majestic exercise of creative and 
healing power, we believe and are sure that 
Thou hast the words of eternal life." Al- 
though in unveiling Thyself before thy crea- 
tures, Thou dost stand, from age to age, at 
the bar of hostile and skeptical opinion, yet 
assuredly, from age to age, by the assaults 
of thine enemies, no less than in the faith of 
thy believing Church, Thou art justified in 
thy sayings, and art clear when Thou art 
judged." " Of a truth Thou art the King 
of Glory, O Christ ; thou art the Everlast- 
ing Son of the Father." 



CHRIST COMING TO JUDGMENT. 

A CHRISTMAS SERMON. 

" Behold I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to 
give every man according as his work shall be." — Revela- 
tion xxvii. 12. 

These words of our ascended Redeemer, 
among the last of the messages which He 
communicated to his people, are at all times 
solemn and interesting. They afford mat- 
ter for serious reflection ; and are calculated 
to awaken the devoutest joy, or the most 
awful apprehension. But at a season like 
the present, when our Church invites us to 
the consideration of the first advent of her 
Lord, and" we are gathered around the 
manger of Bethlehem, to admire " the great 
humility " in which the Son of God " came 
to visit us," the mind instinctively goes for- 
ward to a scene of striking contrast ; and 
faith sees the great white throne erected on 
the clouds, and hope is looking for this 
" same Jesus coming again," " in glorious 
majesty, to judge the quick and the dead." 
The services of our Liturgy are arranged 
with regard to this natural transition of 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 309 

thought ; and in the Epistles and Gospels for 
the Sundays in Advent, the first and second 
coming of the Son of Man are kept jointly 
in view. While rejoicing in the blessings of 
the one, we should take heed to prepare for 
the solemnities of the other. 

The Gospel to-day presents us with our 
Lord's own prediction of his second advent ; 
its certainty being avouched, in the words, 
" Heaven and earth shall pass away, but 
my words shall not pass away." 

The speaker who in the text declares, 
" Behold I come," in the next verse informs 
us, " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning 
and the end, the first and the last," and 
thus identifies Himself with " One like 
unto the Son of Man," whom St. John had 
already heard claim for HimseK this signif- 
icant name. Addressing his Church from 
within the veil, the Lord Christ repeats 
the prediction He had made when on earth ; 
that " the Son of Man shall come in his 
glory." With his own mouth He confirms 
the message with which angels comforted 
the bereaved disciples. " This same Jesus, 
which is taken up from you into heaven, 
shall so come as ye have seen Him go into 
heaven." He puts his seal to the apostolic 



310 IN ME MORI AM. 

prophecy, " The Lord himself shall descend 
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of 
the archangel, and the trump of God." 
He places it beyond question that there 
shall be a personal return of the ascended 
Mediator, " whom," saith St. Peter, " the 
heavens must receive until the times of 
the restitution of all things, which God 
hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy 
prophets since the world began," 

Deeply interesting, my brethren, in view 
of this Divine assurance, is the inquiry as 
to the manner, design, and period of this 
second advent of our Master ; and as far as 
the answer can be returned from Scripture, 
it cannot fail to prove instructive. It is 
true that there is difficulty in harmonizing 
all the prophecies relating to this event. 
Some, it must be lamented, have fallen into 
error in their interpretations ; and have 
published their theories as the prophetic 
history of Christ's kingdom. Without rev- 
erence and prayer, we may easily be misled ; 
but this should not deter us from giving 
heed to the declarations of Holy Scripture. 
Rather should they warn us to approach 
the study of prophecy in a humble spirit ; 
distrusting our own wisdom, and earnestly 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN, 311 

seeking the guidance of the Spirit of God. 
We are not to expect to understand all 
parts of a prediction before its fulfillment ; 
but carefully should we seize and endeavor 
to profit by whatever is plain and practical, 
leaving it to God to make known, by the 
event, what at present we cannot compre- 
hend in the prophecy. In the spirit of 
meekness and devotion, the investigation of 
prophetic Scriptures is an employment full 
of comfort and interest ; strengthening 
faith, and animating hope, with the pros- 
pects of the coming glory of Christ and his 
redeemed. I have chosen my text to-day, 
because it sets the coming of our Lord be- 
fore us in its most practical aspect ; pre- 
senting it as that in which we have each a 
personal concern ; and bringing into view 
those features of this sublime event which 
may be easily comprehended by all men. 
As to the manner of the advent, further 
than that it will be a personal appearing of 
the " same Jesus which was taken up from 
us into heaven," the passage does not afford 
us information. From other portions of 
God's Word, we gather that it will be a 
triumphant approach of the crowned Medi- 
ator, majestic with Divine authority ; and 



312 IN MEM0R1AM. 

terribly sublime in every element of Divine 
power. " The Lord Jesus," writes St. Paul, 
" shall be revealed from heaven, with his 
mighty angels, in flaming fire." ;i His feet,*' 
saith the prophet Zeehariah. i; shall stand 
upon the Mount of Olives which is before 
Jerusalem on the east." " And the Lord 
shall be King over all the earth." "And 
He shall reign over the house of Jacob for- 
ever." St. John, in Revelation, declares : 
" They which have part in the first resur- 
rection shall be priests of God and of Christ, 
and shall reign with Him a thousand 
years." ''And a great white throne shall 
be set, and He shall sit on it : from whose 
face the earth and the heaven shall flee 
away, and there shall be no more place 
found for them." Daniel tells us, " A fiery 
stream shall issue and come forth from be- 
fore Him : thousand thousands shall minis- 
ter unto Him. and ten thousand times ten 
thousand shall stand before Him.*' 

I have grouped these passages of God's 
"Word, as a striking description of the man- 
ner of the coming of the Son of Man, ex- 
pressive of its grandeur, and impressing 
upon us the most awful sense of its reality. 
I shall not here enter upon particulars, or 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 313 

attempt to do more than help you to realize 
the majesty of your King. Once He came 
in poverty and lowliness ; now He draws 
near with the riches and glory of God. 
Once He was " led as a lamb to the 
slaughter ; " now He goes forth " the Lion 
of the tribe of Judah." Once the humanity 
veiled the Godhead ; now Divinity illumines 
the glorified manhood. " When the Son of 
Man shall come in his glory, and all the 
holy angels with Him, then shall He sit 
upon the throne of his glory." Whatever 
may be the arrangement of this sublime 
ceremonial, when earth shall receive her 
Lord, it will be the hour of his signal and 
visible triumph ; as the Apostle named it, 
" the glorious appearing of the great God 
and our Saviour, Jesus Christ." In refer- 
ring to the design of this advent, I shall to- 
day confine myself exclusively to the teach- 
ing of the text. Not because every part of 
that design is here unfolded, for there are 
doubtless other ends in view, which are not 
here brought to light; but what is proposed, 
besides being the grandest purpose of all, 
furnishes us with matter of- deep personal 
interest, and calls for the gravest and most 
earnest consideration. " Behold," our Lord 



814 IN ME MORI AM. 

declares, " I come quickly, and my reward 
is with me, to give every man according 
as his work shall be." In this design of 
Christ's coming, we profess our belief, as 
often as we repeat the Creed ; and for this 
to be prepared, we ask God's grace in the 
Collect, which is used daily, during this sea- 
son. I would now centre your thoughts 
upon the coming Mediator, " judging the 
quick and the dead." In that sublime 
transaction, we shall every one of us, most 
certainly, bear a part. To that bar we are 
each one summoned. The convening of the 
court is thus described, by St. John : " I 
saw a great white throne, and Him that sat 
on it ; from whose face the earth and the 
heaven fled away, and there was found no 
place for them. And I saw the dead, small 
and great, stand before God ; and the books 
were opened ; and another book was opened, 
which is the book of life ; and the dead 
were judged out of those things which were 
written in the books, according to their 
works. And the sea gave up the dead 
which were in it ; and death and hell de- 
livered up the dead which were in them ; 
and they were judged every man according 
to their works." Three matters claim at- 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 315 

tention, in looking forward to this great 
assize : the person tried ; the mode of pro- 
cedure ; and the sentence. 

(1.) This is a universal judgment. Here 
are assembled the countless generations of 
earth's inhabitants. Not only they u which 
are alive and remain unto the coming of 
the Lord," but the dead, small and great, 
" stand before God." The earth shall have 
restored the dust, to which she gave a rest- 
ing place : the sea shall have given up the 
dead, which, through ages, have been hidden 
in her depths ; every grave will have been 
rifled, every sepulchre disturbed ; the bodies 
of all who sleep shall awake ; the archan- 
gel's trump shall shake every temple, and 
be heard in every cemetery ; and death and 
hades, opening their massive bars, the spirit 
shall return from the place of the departed, 
and animate once more their reconstructed 
tabernacles. From Adam to his last-born 
son, no soul that drew the breath of life 
shall be absent. Vast will be the throng, 
but in the sense of his accountability, each 
man shall stand, as it were, alone. " We 
must all appear before the judgment-seat of 
Christ ; that every one may receive the 
things done in his body according to that 



316 IN MEM OKI AM. 

he hath done, whether it be good or bad.*' 
Would you, my brethren, bear this fact in 
mind, and picture to yourselves the vast as- 
sembly, gathered from every age and clime 
around the judgment- seat ; would you an- 
ticipate your own position in that awed and 
unnumbered throng, called from your 
graves by the trump of God, or overtaken 
in the midst of life, by the sudden gathering 
of nations, the result might be an awaken- 
ing from the indifference of worldliness, and 
the casting from you the apathy of sin. 
"Who could offend, with the same careless- 
ness, if, in the moment of temptation, we 
saw, with all the vividness of reality, the 
great white throne, and the multitude sur- 
rounding it ; if we heard that which St. 
Jerome tells us was always loud in his ears, 
" Arise, ye dead, and come away to judg- 
ment ; " if we beheld the books opened, and 
" the sin of Judah " written therein, with a 
pen of iron and the point of a diamond? 

Consider the mode of trial which shall 
obtain in that august court. " The dead, 5 ' 
St. John tells us, " were judged out of those 
things which were written in the books, ac- 
cording to their works." These are " the 
books of reckoning '' and " the Lamb's 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 817 

book of life." The former have been kept 
by Divine Providence, from the beginning 
of time ; and register the history of our 
race. Every man has there an ample page, 
upon which is recorded, under the eye of 
Omniscience, his minute biography. The 
leaf is headed with our birth-sin, — " One 
man's disobedience, whereby many were 
made sinners," and all " by nature are 
children of wrath." Here is described the 
depravity of our hearts and our carnal 
enmity against God : and there, crowding 
the lines, and burdening the ledger, are the 
transgressions of our daily life, willful, diver- 
sified, repeated. Acts of omission and com- 
mission, secret and public, great and small ; 
sins of thought, hidden, as we hope in the 
secrets of our hearts ; evil imaginations ; 
base desires, which we would not have 
whispered in privacy to a friend ; sins of 
word ; idle and malicious breaths : scoffs 
and ribald jests : impure and blasphemous 
speeches ; sins of deed, committed in the 
face of men, or hidden in the dark, from all 
but the eye of God. O those wonderful 
books of remembrance ! what a chronicle of 
crime ! And these shall be brought against 
impenitent sinners at the bar of the Judge. 



31 S IN MEM OBI AM. 

Witnessed against from hence, brethren, 

which of us shall not be found guilty ? 
Our own conscience will render the verdict ; 
and God. angels, and men. shall approve 
the condemnation. But the sentence is 
withheld, until the opening of •• the Lamb's 
book of life." — "the book of life." in con- 
trast with that whose every page credits us 
with " the wages of sin." i; death." And 
"the Lamb's book:" for He by his own 
" obedience unto death." in the stead of his 
people, hath, with his atoning blood, written 
their names in this register of salvation. 
Remember, my fellow sinners, at the day of 
judgment, this volume, shall bear its testi- 
mony for or against us. Our names. 
through grace, written here as believers in 
the Son of God. no reckoning shall be found 
against us. He who says to his disciples, 
;i Rejoice that your names are written in 
heaven." declares. " I have blotted out as a 
thick cloud your transgressions : and as a 
cloud, your sins." How intensely solemn 
the inquiry, for each one of us. *• Is my 
name in the book of life?" You cannot 
indeed look into that volume and read its 
holy record. " Secret things belong unto 
the Lord our God : " - He knoweth them 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 319 

that are his." But you can read the word 
of invitation and promise in the Scriptures : 
" Look unto me and be ye saved, all the 
ends of the earth ; " " Him that cometh unto 
me I will in no wise cast out ; " you can 
search your own hearts, and, the Holy 
Spirit enlightening and quickening you, can 
decide on the evidence furnished by God's 
Word, whether you have known yourself a 
lost sinner, and with " a broken and con- 
trite heart," which God will not despise, 
have " believed on the Lord Jesus Christ." 
The same Spirit, who records the name of 
the elect sinner in the book of life, seals 
him "unto the day of redemption;" and 
while carrying on the work of grace in his 
heart and life, " bears witness with his 
spirit that he is a child of God." And 
now, hear the sentence, as it is pronounced 
from the throne ; and mark the justice 
which it renders, " to give every man ac- 
cording as his work shall be." To those 
who are righteous in Christ, by faith, is 
assigned the fullness of the reward of his 
obedience. This is the name whereby He 
shall be called, " the Lord our righteous- 
ness," and " he that hath the Son hath life." 
Yet this life shall be apportioned according 



320 IN MEMOR1AM. 

to the capacity to contain it. In the con- 
stellation of the blest, as they cluster in 
heaven around the Sun of Righteousness, 
" one star differeth from another star in 
glory." The greater the grace, the fuller 
the joy ; and the more meet the saints are 
for glory, the more abundantly shall they 
receive. " He that is righteous, let him be 
righteous still, and he that is holy, let him 
be holy still." And, too, in the sentence of 
the finally impenitent, there is the exact 
justice of God : they shall " reap that which 
they have sown, and gather that which 
they have strewed ; " and it will add to the 
weight of their eternal misery, and increase 
the sense of that " indignation and wrath " 
of " God, who will render to every man 
according to his deeds," for the condemned 
to know that they have, through a life 
of sin, " treasured up unto themselves 
wrath against the day of wrath and revela- 
tion of the righteous judgment of God." 

And now the thought that presses upon 
the soul is, When shall these things be ? 
What is the period of our Lord's coming ? 
My brethren, our text furnishes the best 
answer to this question : " I come quickly." 
You may desire a more definite statement ; 



*' 



REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 321 

you may spend labor and research in the 
effort to elicit from Scripture, out of the 
signs of the times, a more particular re- 
sponse, but you can find none more safe and 
practical, — none that should have a more 
direct influence upon your life and conduct. 
" Of that day and hour knoweth no man ; " 
but of this we are certain. It comes. It 
comes quickly ; all things are preparing for 
it ; all events making way for it. Signs 
are around us ; tokens are given us ; Scrip- 
tures admonish us. Suffer not yourselves 
to suppose that ages he between you and 
that awful hour. It is not so far as many 
think. It may be nearer than any one of 
us imagines. It will come suddenly. It 
will overtake us unexpectedly. It will sur- 
prise a great many : " When they shall say 
peace and safety, then sudden destruction 
shall come upon them and they shall not 
escape." " Behold," saith the Lord, " I come 
as a thief. m Blessed is he that watcheth and 
keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, 
and they see his shame." " I come quickly." 
It may be but a little while, and " He that 
shall come will come, and will not tarry." 
" Amid the confusions of earth, the fall of 
thrones and upheaval of nations, while men's 
21 



322 IN MEMORIAM. 

hearts are failing them for fear, and for 
looking after those things that are coming 
upon the earth,' we may see, each one for 
ourselves, as we " stand in our lot," the Son 
of Man coming in a cloud, with power and 
great glory. But if the wheels of his 
chariot tarry, and for his own reasons of 
providence and grace, the day of his peo- 
ple's redemption lingers, yet, my brethren, 
He will come, by his messenger, Death, to 
each of us. It may be quickly ; let it not 
be without such preparation as is only to 
be found in personal faith in the Son of 
God. Remember, " It is appointed unto all ' 
men once to die ; and after that the judg- 
ment." 



FINIS. 



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